Next Generation
by PrettyBigLies
Summary: Years after Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Aria graduated from Rosewood High and moved passed the tragedies caused by A a new generation of liars has been born each with there own secrets.Emma who has her eyes set on the bad boy, Miranda afraid of the feelings she has for one of her friends, Jess a Queen Bee in training and Liam scared that he'll tarnish his families perfect image,
1. One In The Same

Her emerald eyes flickered opened the sunlight which peered through the window stunning her for a moment. It was early, her parents were still asleep as well as her younger sister she liked this time. The quiet, it was a time where she could reflect on her feelings and start her day with good thoughts. She swung her legs out of the comfort of her bed resting them on the cold floor which sent a chill up her spine. She reached her arms stretching them over her head before standing and slowly making her way to the door. The hallway was still dark, the only noise coming from the creaking of the floorboards as she stepped towards the bathroom.

"Damn it" she whispered harshly as a force hit her

A small blue eyed black haired girl rubbed her shoulder in the area that she had been hit "Sorry Emma" she apologized as the older girl walked further into the room

"What are you doing in here?" Emma asked reaching for her toothbrush

"It's my first day of high school, I need to prepare myself" She replied copying her sister's action and grabbing her toothbrush

"Are you ready for high school? Four years of complete and absolute torture" Emma smiled wiping the toothpaste which had dripped from her mouth

"Shut up"

"I thought I heard voices" An older girl had appeared in the already cramped bathroom "Are you girls almost ready?"

Emma nodded spitting the toothpaste from her mouth washing out the taste before turning back towards her room.

"Emma?"

Her mother followed her to the bedroom keeping her voice at a quiet whisper

"Can you please watch out for Ella today, she's keeping it together now but I can tell she's freaked out"

"Really mom? I'm a junior I don't want to be shuffling around school with a freshman. I have friends of my own you know"

"Emma" Her eyes were stern as they connected with her daughter's

"Fine, under one condition"

"What is it?"

Emma outstretched her hand "Car keys"

She was ready to start another year of school, another year closer to getting out of high school another year closer to shaking off the dust of the small town of Rosewood and escaping into the real world. The ride was fast, Emma speeding past the little traffic hoping to get to school early.

"Well here we are" Emma smiled unbuckling her seat belt and reaching into the backseat for her bag "Have fun"

"You're not gonna help me?" Ella asked nervously

Emma laughed as though this request was absurd "Hell no" She slammed the car door shut causing the car to shake "Oh there's Miranda I've got to run"

She slung the bag over her shoulder running to catch up with the blonde who was headed towards the building accompanied by an older woman who had the same piercing blue eyes

"Hey bitch" Emma laughed nudging her playfully on the arm

"Hey Slut" Miranda replied pushing her back

"Miranda!"

"Sorry Mom" Miranda apologized her cheeks slightly red from embarrassment

"Morning Mrs. Rivers" Emma greeted turning to face the adult

"Good Morning Emma, where's your mom?" Hanna asked looking around for her old friend

Emma reached into her pocket jingling the keys in front of her face "My mother is giving me independence for once in my life! Thank God!"

"Well, tell her I said hello. I haven't seen her in weeks" Hanna frowned turning her attention to her daughter "Have a great day honey I'll pick you up after tryouts okay?"

"Thanks mom" Miranda smiled hugging Hanna tightly around the waist

Emma watched as Hanna strutted back towards her car before saying what was occupying her mind "Tryouts?"

"What?" Miranda said as she began to walk inside the building occasionally bumping into other students

"You're not trying out for the pep squad, I mean you can't. You know who's on that team right" Emma paused for dramatic effect "Jess Freakin Kahn!"

"Emma, you don't think I know that" Miranda explained searching for her locker "I'm not trying out I'm simply letting my mother think I am so than when I stay after school sometimes she won't question it"

Emma grinned at the realization that her locker was beside her best friends "Interesting, so tell me what are you planning on staying after for?"

Miranda threw her bag into her locker slamming it closed before leaning her body against it "Two words. Liam and Swimming" She loved when Emma became so interested in their conversations, the corner of her mouth always turning up into a smile when she heard something juicy

"Liam? Liam Cavanagh" Emma nodded "Nice choice, he's on the swim team that means he has a great body, of course not as good as mine" She giggled seeing her friends face turn red

"Who has a great body?" Ella asked sneaking up behind the two girls

"Damn you Ella! You nearly gave me a heart attack"

"Sorry. I just needed you help finding my class" she reached into her pocket pulling out her schedule and scanning over the classes "Where's room 220?"

Emma rolled her eyes at her sister's complete and utter stupidity "That's Freshman English idiot!" She paused waiting for Ella to catch on "Wow, you are stupid. Down the hall and to the right. Tell Dad I said hi"

"I'm in Dad's class?" Ella asked worried

"Yup" Emma stopped herself from laughing "Have fun with that"

"Bye Ella" Miranda said waving goodbye hoping she would leave so she could return to her previous conversation

Emma stared at her sister as she disappeared down the hallway thinking back to her first day of high school, and how scared and alone she had felt but luckily she had Miranda. As she was reflecting on her friendship and previous years in Rosewood High she caught glimpse of what she could only describe as an angel.

"Holy Crap" she managed to say her ability to speech seeming like it had vanished

Her eyes locked with his ocean blue orbs a smile crossing her face as his eyes scanned her body. His plain white t-shirt clinging tightly to his toned body, his dark jeans covered in rips and tears. His dark hair the perfect combination of neat and messy, she just couldn't take her eyes off of him.

"Earth to Emma!" Miranda called pulling her from her trance "Who are you looking at?" She followed her eyes to the boy Emma had her sights set on "Bitch please" Miranda smiled

"What? You know who that is?" Emma asked finally moving her eyes from the mystery guy

"Yes" Miranda strolled down the hallway stopping only to enter her first period class

"Who the hell is it?" Emma asked loudly drawing the attention of students nearby

Miranda descended into her desk crossing her left leg above her right "That was Noah. Noah Kahn"

"Son of a bitch!" Emma groaned dropping her head into her hands

"Literally" Miranda joked "Alison Kahn is definitely a bitch and I bet her kids are just the same"


	2. Bet You Didn't Know

The bell rang throughout the school signaling all students to their first period class. He glanced at his schedule once more making sure he was entering the correct class room. There she was. That beautiful green eyed, dark haired girl with the glowing smile that could light up a room. He moved quickly towards the back of the room to the only empty seat between a girl who hid behind her textbook and a brunette who was only focused on her cell phone.

"Noah" someone whispered

He turned to the sound of his name seeing his twin sister sitting only a few seats away. "Damn" he thought to himself not knowing that he was in the same class as his bitch of a sister

"What?" he answered her desperate not to disrupt the class

"Check your phone" her smile was plastered on her face

He pulled his phone from his back pocket flipping through the various messages until he found on from Jess. It was a picture of a freshman tripping over her own foot causing her school books to scatter across the floor. Noah deleted the message before he could even read the caption, he didn't want to be involved in Jess's torment.

"Noah Kahn?" He tore his eyes away from the girl two seats ahead of him

"Here" He replied looking at the teacher for only a moment before returning his eyes to the girl whose long dark hair streaked with red highlights draped down her back the ends styled in loose curls, her legs tapping slowly on the ground.

Class was over just as quickly as it had begun he watched as she disappeared into the crowd her blonde friend not too far behind her.

"Hey" he called out hoping the blonde would stop

"Noah" Miranda whined stopping dead in her tracks

"Mindy? Right?" Noah asked unsure of the girl's name

"Miranda" She rolled her eyes holding her new history textbook closely to her chest "What do you want?"

"Your friends with the girl with the big green eyes right? " Noah smiled as he thinking of her shinning eyes "Emma" he remembered from the teacher's roll-call

"Best friends. Why?"

Emma quickly opened her locker stuffing her history textbook into the empty locker before slamming it closed. She searched the crowded hallway for Miranda who seemed to have disappeared.

"Emma?"

She turned to the sound of her name seeing yet another familiar face

"Jess"

Emma hadn't talked to Jess in what seemed like years, ever since Jess had changed into the little bitch that she was now.

_Flashback _

"_I can't believe you did that!" Emma yelled throwing her hands above her head outraged at what Jess had done "She didn't deserve that" _

"_You're kidding right?" Jess laughed as she grabbed her makeup bag "That freak deserved everything that she got"_

"_Jess you don't understand!" Emma tried to explain dropping herself onto Jess' bed "You put someone in the hospital" _

_Jess turned to face Emma "It wasn't really my fault. I mean it was your party" A sick smile crossed her face "And if you think about it Bella only got hurt because you wanted to do a bonfire, it wasn't my fault the flames got caught on her dress" _

"_Jess!" Emma yelled her voice louder and angrier than before "You purposely pushed her closer to the flames you're freaking insane" _

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Emma asked sarcastically

"I saw you today before first period staring at my brother. You didn't know I had a brother did you?"

"Well back in the dark ages when we were friends you never mentioned him, neither did your mother"

Jess smiled as she admired her manicure "Yea, my parents got divorced when I was two I stayed with my mom and my annoying twin brother Noah stayed with my Dad, but unfortunately this past summer out of nowhere my parents got back together and my dad brought Noah back with him"

"Why are you telling me this? No offense but I really don't care what's going on in your life, honestly I stopped caring when you started being a manipulative bitch"

"What the hell did you just call me?" Jess asked furiously

"I said" Emma began slowly emphasizing every word "That you are a manipulative little bitch who needs to tear people down in order to feel better about themselves, you're a bitch just like your mother!"

Jess took one step forward lunging towards Emma only to be stopped by Noah who had caught Jess before she could hit Emma. Miranda wrapped her arms around Emma's shoulder's holding her back from attacking Jess as she continued to scream insults.

"My mom's a bitch? Well at least she's not a slut!" Jess' screams echoed throughout the hallway that was filled with students eager to see a fight

"Shut the hell up!" Emma broke free of Miranda's grip reaching for Jess's golden locks

"Emma, stop it!" Noah watched as the brunette girl who sat next to him in first period intervened trying to pin Emma's arms to her sides

"Amy" Jess started again struggling in Noah's arms "Of course you come to her aide, is it cause you're in love with her. I mean your parents are gay I bet you are too"

She didn't move, her facial expression didn't change, she didn't seem angrier, or more upset instead she increased her grip on Emma's arms forcing her further away from Jess.

"Miranda, would you mind holding her for a moment?" Amy asked

Miranda nodded slowly watching as Amy took a step closer to Jess leaning in and whispering something in her ear, something which caused Jess to stop dead in her tracks.

"Do we have an understanding?" Amy asked a faint grin on her face as she turned on her heel and strutted away

Miranda guided Emma into the bathroom her face bright red in anger, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm going to freaking kill her!" Emma said furiously slamming her fist into the bathroom stall

"Emma calm the hell down! This is what she wants, she wants to make you feel like this! Don't give her the satisfaction of making you angry" Miranda rubbed her back softly attempting to calm her friend down

"I'm good. I'm good" she repeated taking several deep breaths "Can we just go to class and pretend this didn't happened?"

"My thoughts exactly" Miranda pushed opened the bathroom door guiding Emma to their next class their arms linked together

"How wonderful, I was hoping you would be joining us" the teacher smiled as the two girls entered the room making their way to the only opened seats in the back where only Amy was sitting

Emma nervously took her seat glancing over at Amy for a second before turning her attention back towards the front of the room where the teacher was mumbling something about math.

"Emma?" Amy whispered trying to get her attention "Emma?"

"Yea?" Emma reluctantly answered avoiding eye contact

"Are you okay?"

"Fine? You, she was pretty damn harsh"

Amy smiled as if she had just been told a joke "Please I get made fun of all the time for my mom's, it doesn't bother me it makes me sad"

"Sad?" Emma questioned

"Sad" Amy repeated "Sad that people can't understand that all love is the same, if you love someone you go after them you catch them and you spend your life with them, and that's exactly what my mom's did. So how can I be embarrassed by that?"

"Wow" Emma was amazed by Amy's comment amazed at how comfortable she was even though she knew that her situation could and would cause so many problems "Can I ask you something?"

"You want to know what I told Jess?" Amy said as if she could read Emma's mind "I told her what her mom and my mom Emily use to do together"

"Shit!" Emma said as she realized what Amy was implying

"Yea" Amy laughed "Bet she didn't know that"


	3. Footsteps

He glared at his reflection looking into his dark brown eyes as if he was looking into the eyes of a stranger. Who was he? He couldn't even answer that question, he didn't know who he was anymore all he knew was what his parents wanted him to be. He didn't know, what he wanted to be, he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. But then again he doesn't really have a choice, he has to follow in the footprints set by his sister, and his mother, and his aunt and his grandfather and his grandmother and every other successful person in his family.

He swung the bathroom door opened crashing it into a girl on his way out.

"Damn!" he said after seeing what he had done "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you, I didn't see you"

"It's….." She stuttered "It's fine" she winced as her hand rubbed her temple

"Are you sure you're okay, the door looked like it hit you pretty hard" He brought his hand to her forehead his fingers laying on top of hers feeling the slight bump that had appeared "I'll take you to the nurse let her look at it" he suggested

"That sounds like a good plan, I wouldn't want to go home with a bruise my mom's would think I got into another fight"

"Another? Should I be scared?" Liam laughed reaching for her hand "Let me be your guide, wouldn't want you losing your balancing and falling" he grinned as their hands interlocked "But if you were to fall I have to warn you my mother is a pretty damn good lawyer"

"Amy?" Miranda said confused seeing her with Liam as she watched the pair walk down the hall "

Emma reappeared after stopping for a moment to put more books into her locker "Where's Amy I thought we were doing lunch?"

"I guess she got a better offer. Bitch"

She looked towards her friend a confused look on her face raising her eyebrows as she tried to decode the current situation "What the hell did I miss?"

"Oh just Amy strutting off with Liam, I guess it was pretty pathetic thinking her could be into me anyway"

Emma sensed the despair in Miranda's voice "Think about it this way, if they date they'll break up and when they do he'll see that you are the perfect girl for him" She wrapped her arm around the taller girls waist "Now let's go drown our sorrows in stale chocolate cake from the cafeteria"

"You should be fine, it looks like it's just a small bump. Nothing to worry about" the nurse admitted passing a small ice pack to Amy "Use this for a few minutes and it should feel better"

"Again, I'm really sorry that I hit you with the door you have to believe me I didn't see you"

"Don't even try to apologize I am totally convinced that you purposely hit me with the bathroom door" Amy said sarcastically placing the cold pack onto her head

"You're not funny" Liam said trying to hold back his own laughter "I'm Liam by the way"

"Liam Cavanagh?" Amy asked the name sounding slightly familiar

"Yea, the son of the famous Spencer Cavanagh the one who was stalked by A" Liam rolled his eyes obviously annoyed by the social stigma that he was stuck with

"I know how you feel I'm Amy, Amy Fields daughter of Emily Fields the one who was also stalked by A" She gave him a small smile "If you think about it, it's pretty weird that we've never met I mean our parents are like best friends"

Liam remained interesting in his new friend "I know, my mom is constantly telling me stories of her friends but I guess there just not that close anymore"

"Shame, I wouldn't mind seeing more of you" Amy smiled brightly throwing the ice pack onto the nurse's desk "Thank you" She jumped to her feet quickly heading towards the door "Careful!" She yelled loudly so that students in the hallway heard her "Liam has a habit of hitting people with doors!" She turned around to see his amused face "You deserved that"

Miranda shoved another forkful of cake into her mouth smearing icing onto her cheek.

"I hate this" She whined as Emma wiped the frosting from her friend's face sucking it off of her finger "I hate feeling this way"

"Miranda, of course it sucks you saw Liam with another girl" Emma tried her best to console her friend not knowing what to say in this type of situation

"Right" Miranda said slowly not sure if she was truly taking about her feelings toward Liam or someone else

"Listen let's ditch the rest of the day, go shopping we can even get your favorite cheese fries from the Apple Rose Grille"

"Sounds perfect"

"Now girls, we all know that skipping class is against the rules"

"Shut the hell up Connor" Miranda demanded "Why are you even here I told you to pretend like you didn't know me" She glanced around the room making sure no one was watching "I don't want people to know I'm related to….you" She stared at his tattered clothes and ripped shoes

"Reality check blondie we look exactly alike, I mean aside from our hair color we look identical, someone would have to be stupider than you to think were not related" A devilish grin crossed his face "And I doubt anyone could be _that _dumb"

"There is no way you two are related" Emma joked seeing their extremely different personalities

"Right, mom and dad probably found him in a dumpster"

"I'd rather be from a dumpster than be named after Dad's old girlfriend"

"Screw you!" Miranda said getting to her feet and pushing her brother's chest forcefully "You know that's not true!"

"Whatever you say" Connor laughed stealing a bite of the girls cake "See you at home"

"I freaking hate him sometimes" Miranda said as he walked away "I mean really he just ticks me off"

"Tell me something I don't know" Emma stated hoping to begin a new conversation knowing how upset Miranda got when someone mentioned how she got her name "Now can we please go, I'm in the mood for food that isn't rock hard"


	4. Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

They strutted through the store searching for something that was worth their time. Emma veered to the right mesmerized by the multitude of scarfs while Miranda went to the left her eye catching the various sunglasses displayed in the case.

"Can I see those to?" Miranda smiled at the employee

"I can't take that many sunglasses out at once"

"But there all maybes" Miranda gave him a bigger smile hoping her flirty nature would help her

"Is this scarf me?" Emma asked spinning around wearing a thick scarf around her neck

"Or is it your mom?" Miranda laughed

Emma made a disgusted face ripping the scarf from her neck and replacing it with a thin purple one. She glance over her shoulder briefly knowing what the next part of their plan was. Emma grabbed her bag slipping it back onto her shoulder slowly walking out of the store never looking back once, leaning on the side of the building as she waited for Miranda to join her.

"Nice sunglasses" Emma grinned seeing her friend walking up next to her

"Nice scarf" She replied pushing her sunglasses onto her head "Now I would like the cheese fries you promised me"

"Of course, let's go" Emma linked her arm with Miranda's as they headed off to the Grille

"Can I get an order of cheese fries, please" Emma asked politely

The Grille was empty only a few people scattered in various tables Emma took her seat next to Miranda grabbing her phone from her pocket only to see several texts and missed calls from her mother.

"Oh crap" Emma groaned reading the first message

"What's wrong with poor Emma?" Miranda babied her "Did you get in trouble for skipping school?"

"I wish" She shook her head as she passed her phone to Miranda

"You're freaking kidding me right?"

"No, apparently my mom thinks it's a good idea to have the gang over for dinner" She reached for the basket of fries which had just been brought to the table

"Does that include Queen of the Bitches?" Miranda joked her mouth full of fries

"You mean Alison Kahn? Beats me"

"She's probably going, your mom's like the nicest person ever she couldn't deliberately leave her out"

"Miranda, did you read my mom's book? It basically calls Alison a selfish, no good, lying, bitch who only looks out for herself"

"Sounds like someone else we know, hint" Miranda paused for dramatic effect "It's her daughter" she whispered a smile creeping onto her face

The basket was empty now the only thing remaining was a few drops of cheese which Miranda happily scooped up with her finger. Emma's face still held the disappointed look she had when she read her mother's message. She was against this dinner from the start but she knew once her mom thought of something there was no going against her.

"My house?" Emma asked starting the car

"Do you even need to ask? You house is a billion times better than mine"

"Doubt it" Emma laughed backing the car out of the spot driving it quickly down the street in the direction of her house "At least you don't have to deal with Ella"

"I'd rather have Ella as a sibling than Connor. All he does is annoy me and get drunk" Miranda rolled her eyes

"Is he still in his rebellious phase?" Emma asked "I had that phase but I got out of it like freshman year"

"Got out of it?" Miranda said "Then how do you explain that red hair of yours?" her fingers grasping one of the red highlights

"Independence, that's how I explain it" Emma pulled into her driveway unstrapping her seatbelt and stuffing her new scarf into her bag knowing that her mother would think she stole it

"Independence is overrated" Miranda said beginning their previous conversation again as they stepped through the front door

"Tell me that next time you want to do something and your mom says no" Emma threw her keys into the bowl near the door dropping her bag alongside it before turning to the stairs

"Your such a smart ass sometimes" Miranda whined tossing her bag down

"Sometimes?" Emma repeated sounding slightly insulted "Sometimes! I'm a smart ass all the time"

"Oh, I apologize" Miranda chuckled as the two entered her bedroom

The two remained hidden in the room talking about how terrible the dinner would be and how the hell they would get through the awkward small talk.

"Emma"

"Coming Mom" Emma responded sliding off her bed and running down stairs into the kitchen where she found her mom slaving over the hot stove "What's up?"

"Can you please dress up for tonight? I want everything to go smoothly" Aria asked turning her attention away from the boiling water and towards her daughter

"What's wrong with this?" Emma asked looking down at her outfit which consisted of black skinny jeans a white t-shirt black studded leather jacket and a black beanie

"It's nice, I just done think it's right for dinner" Aria tried to explained gently

"Okay, I get it" Emma said annoyed "I'll go put on a pretty dress and high heels"

She stormed up the stairs slamming her bedroom door shut causing a picture to fall from the wall.

"Let me guess, you have to change?" Miranda said already knowing the answer

"Of course" Emma whined moving to her closet and pulling out a white dress "But I'm not putting on some pink fluffy dress"

She slipped into the white dress wrapping a black belt around her waist finishing the outfit off with her back studded leather jacket and her matching back boots. Miranda remained face down on the bed mumbling incoherently to herself.

"What even is love? Does she love him? Do I?"

"I'm going to pretend like I know what you're talking about" Emma joked throwing herself onto her bed

"Liam" Miranda almost screamed into the pillow "I just don't understand how I feel about him"

"That's an interesting dilemma" Emma observed

The door opened revealing a smiling Ezra "Emma, Miranda how nice to see you two considering I should have seen you at least once today"

"We…ummm…." Emma tried to explained

"We were busy helping freshman around we didn't really pass your classroom to much"

He seemed to buy the story, at least for now "Mom needs you downstairs the guests will be here in a minute of two"

"Oh joy" Emma and Miranda said in unison

"You two spend way too much time together" Ezra laughed examining the friendship

"Blame mom, she's the one that forced us to play together in pre-school" Emma smiled getting to her feet and reaching for Miranda's hand "Come on, we have to go"

"Urggg!" Miranda moaned

The doorbell rang signaling that someone had arrived the only question was, who? Emma stood at the top of the stairs with Miranda watching as her dad raced to the door. As it opened Emma's heart leaped when she saw the face of her angel. He wore a neat button up shirt a loose tie around his neck his previously messy hair combed back, he walked into the house greeting her parent's politely than noticing her presence on the stairs.

"I spy with my little eye, someone checking you out" Miranda broke the silence "Go talk to him"

Emma took a step forward only stopping when she became aware of the other presence in the room. Jess. Her blonde hair wrapped in a tight bun mirroring the look of her mother.

"Emma" Aria called "Come say hello"

Emma grabbed hold of Miranda's hand once again dragging her down the stairs with her "Hi" she said shyly her eyes firmly locked on Noah's

"Hey" He smiled back

The doorbell rang a second time as two more families piled inside the house.

"Emily!" Aria exclaimed throwing her arms around the girl

"Hello, I'm here to" Spencer said waving her hand in front of the smaller girls face

"Shut up Spence" Aria laughed pulling her into the hug

"This is freakin weird" Miranda whispered "I've never seen them act like this"

"You're telling me, there acting like high schoolers"

"I don't act like that!" Miranda said

"Miranda!" Emma shrieked throwing her arms around her waist "It's so good to see you!"

"O-M-G" Miranda giggled over pronouncing each letter "Emma Fitz!"

The adults looked at the two girls knowing that they were making fun of them "I see Emma gets her sense of humor from you" Spencer said intertwining her hand with Toby "Where's Hanna?"

"She's on her way" Aria said leaning her head comfortably on Ezra's chest her eyes darting between her friends

"Hi, Ali" Emily said quietly noticing the blonde beauty for the first time "I didn't see you there"

"It's fine, I'm not really into all the hugging anyway" She gave a faint smile obviously hiding the disappointment of not being involved in all the excitement

"Where's Noel?" Spencer asked looking around the room

"He has work so he couldn't make it" She explained "He sends his best though"

The tension in the room was growing although no one seemed to want to address it. Emily swayed in her spot next to Paige unable to stop herself from moving, Spencer held tight to Toby's hand never releasing him for a moment, Aria escaped to the kitchen with Ezra the two of them putting the final touches on dinner, while Alison leaned on the wall her eyes fixed on Emily's.

"What up bitches!" Hanna yelled as she busted into the house "Sorry" she whispered noticing there surprised faces "I brought wine" she attempting to diffuse the extreme tension and discomfort that filled the room


	5. Bonding Time

The table was filled all five families crowded in the dining room feasting on the gourmet dinner Ezra had prepared. Emily's right hand wrapped tightly around her glass of wine while the other gripped onto Paige's. Hanna continued reminiscing about her high school days, telling stories about some of her past antics. Spencer tried desperately to hold in her laughter each time Hanna made one of her usual, oblivious Hanna comments. Aria's face held a bright smile as she stared into the faces of her best friends, her head still laying on Ezra's shoulder as it normally did whenever they were together. Alison played nervously with her fork picking at the meal that sat in front of her as she tried to listen to Hanna's stories.

Emma leaned into Miranda's ear "Kill me now"

"Gladly" Miranda chuckled back "This is torture!"

"Pssstt" Aria whispered "We may be older than you, but were not deaf"

"Sorry" Emma frowned "Do you think we could go down to the basement?" She asked gesturing to herself and Miranda

"Sure, why don't you bring, Ella, Connor, Liam, Jess, Noah and Amy with you" Aria suggested

"Love to Mom but some English teacher gave me loads of homework to do" Ella explained "So, I'm gonna escape to my room and start on my work"

"Whatever" Emma whined

She rolled her eyes at the thought of bringing Jess anywhere but reluctantly agreed when she thought of the possibility of spending even a minute with Noah. She got to her feet shuffling quickly to the basement door, Miranda hot on her heels.

"So this is the basement" Emma smiled "Flat screen's over there" she pointed towards the left "Stocked bar over there" she motioned to the left "But obviously we can't use it, right Miranda"

"Your no fun" Miranda snickered as she made her way to the bar

Emma threw herself onto the couch propping her legs onto the coffee table before clicking the television on.

"Whacha watching?" Noah asked

"Switched at Birth" Emma answered sounding slightly annoyed

"Bad episode?"

"Bay just found out about Emmet"

"Oh, you mean about him and Simone" Noah said causing a surprised expression to cross Emma's face "Don't look to stunned, I have good taste in shows" he joked

Emma moved over giving Noah space on the couch while Miranda continued her search through the bar Connor right by her side, as Jess sat uncomfortably on the sidelines.

"Ten bucks say Blondie gets drunk first" Liam whispered his eyes following Miranda as she downed a shot of tequila

"No way, Connor's had two more shots than Miranda"

"You're on" Liam outstretched his hand

"Aren't we cozy" Jess groaned approaching the pair "Liam can we talk?"

"I'm in the middle of something"

"It's important"

"I'm talking to Amy!"

"It's important!" Jess repeated grabbing onto Liam's wrists pulling him into the bathroom

"What the hell Jessica?" Liam almost shouted "You're insane"

Jess crossed her arms over her chest her eyes falling to the floor "There's something I need to tell you"

"What?" Liam said his tone implying that he wasn't interested in what she had to say

"I'm pregnant"

"Damn you Simone!" Emma yelled at the television

A smile grew on Noah's face as he watched the beautiful girl become so invested in the show.

"You know I can see you right?" Emma laughed turning away from the TV and facing Noah "Why are you smiling?"

"I.." he stuttered "I just don't know how to act around someone like you"

"Someone like me?" Emma questioned moving slightly closer to him

"Yea, beautiful, funny, smart"

"Have you been stalking me?" Emma giggled closing the distance between her and Noah

"I may have talked to Miranda about you" he admitted his cheeks becoming pink

"What did she have to say about me, good things I hope"

Noah felt her breathe on him as she became only inches away, her perfect green eyes staring deeply into his.

"Definitely good things"

He couldn't help himself leaning into her lips praying that she would kiss him back. Emma wrapped her arms around his neck her fingers finding their way through his dark hair as his arms pulled her onto his lap. His hands traveling up and down her back as he felt her kisses become more passionate.

"Check it out" Amy whispered jumping onto the bar

"Damn!" Miranda exclaimed seeing the sight that was unfolding before her

"What are you looking…" Connor began "Holy crap" his eyes locked on the couch

"Eww perv, that's my best friend" Miranda said pushing her little brother in the head placing the bottle of tequila back into the cabinet

"Well she's hot" Connor smirked "Don't hit me again" He flinched seeing Miranda raise her hand "I'm going, I'm going"

Miranda watched Connor disappear back upstairs his eyes occasionally making their way back to Emma and Noah.

"So" Amy said awkwardly "What's going on?"

"Are you hooking up with Liam?"

"Wow, you don't waste any time" Amy replied shocked at Miranda's straightforward nature "No, I'm not sleeping with Liam"

"Just checking" Miranda turned her head searching the room "Where is Liam?"

"Bathroom with Jess, she needed to talk to him"

Liam stood shocked his head in his hands as he slide down the bathroom wall falling onto the floor. Jess propelled herself onto the counter crossing her legs as she waited for Liam to say something.

"Well" she said annoyed at Liam's silence

"Well, what" Liam replied finally meeting her eyes "What am I supposed to say?"

"Say something!"

"Fine!" Liam shouted climbing back to his feet "You're a slut, there's no way in hell that you're pregnant with my baby you've obviously slept with someone else!"

And with that Liam stormed from the bathroom bumping into Amy and Miranda who seemed to be eavesdropping. His eyes avoided there's as he sped towards the stairway desperate to get out of the house. Jess left the bathroom a few seconds later tears forming in her eyes.

"What the freak happened to you?" Miranda asked

"Shut the hell up" Jess snapped back following Liam's actions and running upstairs

"Emma!" Ezra's voice called as he approached the basement

Emma jumped at the sound of her father's voice falling off of Noah's lap and onto the floor.

"Emma? Why are you on the floor?" Ezra asked

"Looking for the remote" She lied pulling herself back onto the couch

"Noah your mom and sister are heading home, but your welcome to stay a little later of you'd like, same goes for you" Ezra said turning to Amy and Miranda

"Thank you Mr. Fitz, but I think I should be going" Noah said "Umm, I'll see you at school?" he asked Emma unsure of their current status

"Or you could call me" Emma grinned reaching her phone into his pocket stealing his phone and quickly putting her number in

"That works to" he replied taking back his phone "Bye Emma, bye Mr. Fitz" he said awkwardly unaware that he was still standing there

"Bye" Emma smiled as Noah turned away


	6. Who Are You?

She leaned comfortably on her locker her Chemistry textbook held tightly to her chest as her eyes wandered the halls searching for him. It had been four days since the dinner that ended in complete confusion.

"Emma!" Miranda yelled loudly

"What?" Emma replied not hearing anything that Miranda had said

"You're freaking ridiculous!" She yelled throwing her hands in the air out of frustration "I'm trying to talk to you and you're off in la la land"

"I'm sorry" Emma apologized "I'm listening I promise"

"I was just trying to tell you about" She began before being cut off by Emma

"Crap there's Noah, pretend like were talking"

"We are talking!" Miranda said angrily "Scratch that, we were talking!" She slammed her locker closed storming away to her English class

"Miranda!" Emma called desperately trying to get Miranda to turn back "Damn it!" Emma laid her head in defeat against her locker

"Another bad episode of Switched at Birth"

Emma's head shot up at the sound of the angelic voice. "No, it's"

"It's what?" Noah asked

"Nothing, just girl drama" Emma explained rolling her eyes at the thought of fighting with Miranda

"Okay, well when the drama clears maybe you'll want to hang out"

"You mean like a date?" Emma asked her heart beginning to beat faster

"Yea, if you're okay with that"

Emma hid her smile turning to close her locker "Sure, it'll be fun. Call me later?"

Unable to form anymore sentences without screwing up words Emma headed towards her Chemistry class.

"Amy!" Emma called excitedly "Amy Fields I've got some freaking awesome news!"

"Whoa, did you snort some meth this morning?"

"Two things, one your attempt at humor is sad and I feel bad for you and two guess who has a date with one of the cutest guys in school?" Emma smiled brightly pointing to herself "This girl!"

"Really?" Amy asked sounding almost disapproving

"Is it so impossible to think I could have a date with Noah?"

"No but, how does Miranda feel about this"

"Why does it matter what Miranda thinks?"

"It's just" Amy trailed off

"Just what?" Emma asked intrigued by what Amy was trying to imply

"Nothing I just thought you and Miranda were….you know"

"No I" Emma began until she caught on "Me and Miranda are just friends, and I'm not gay and neither is she"

"I didn't say that you were, I just thought"

"You thought wrong" Emma cut her off "Miranda doesn't see me like that and I don't see her like that, so drop it please"

Emma dropped her bag onto the floor sliding into her seat ignoring Amy at all costs. She didn't want to hear what Amy was saying, or at least she didn't want to believe it. Emma would be fine if Miranda was gay but if she found out Miranda looked at her as more than a friend nothing would ever be the same. And besides it wasn't true anyway. The teacher continued his lecture on radioactive elements causing Amy's eyes to begin to close. She felt her head become heavier as slipped from her hands and slammed into the desk.

"Damn" She yelled louder than she intended to

"Ms. Fields do you have something to add to the conversation?"

"No, I just fell asleep. I'm sorry" Amy answered sheepishly

"Well you can finish your beauty sleep in detention"

"That's bull!"

"Amy!" Emma warned her "Shut it"

"Ms. Fitz would you like to join her?"

"No I just, I was trying to" She attempted to explain

"Two detentions, today after school I hope you have fun" The teacher taunted placing detention slips onto their desks

"Screw you Fields!" Emma whined crumpling the slip into her pocket

The bell rang loudly echoing throughout the school as students began to fill the halls.

"Ouch!" Someone called out

"Oh sorry" Miranda apologized as she bumped into another student

"It's fine, it's not the first time someone has bumped into me today" the small girl said sadly pushing up her glasses

"I haven't seen you around, are you new?" Miranda asked trying to place a name with the face

"Yea, my mom and I just moved back here" She answered playing with her schedule

"Do you need help?" Miranda reached for the paper reading through the classes "Damn are you taking enough AP classes?" she joked

"My mom kind of forces me to" she smiled "I'm Victoria, Tori for short"

"Hey Tori, I'm Miranda and I have no nickname" Miranda said sounding somewhat disappointed

"I could think of one" Tori laughed "Thank god, I have lunch I'm starving"

"Good luck finding any edible food here" Miranda giggled "I have lunch now to so you can sit with me if you want"

"Thanks, you're like the nicest person I've met today"

"I try, I just have to stop at my locker for a minute"

"No problem, lead the way"

Miranda pushed her way through the crowds of students making her way to her locker.

"Miranda, thank god" Emma said "I'm so so sorry for not listening to you, I'm the biggest freaking idiot ever. Please forgive me?" Emma begged pushing her bottom lip into a pout

"I'll have to think long and hard about this Ms. Fitz" Miranda teased

"I'll buy you a cookie at lunch!" Emma suggested grabbing onto Miranda's hand "Please"

"Fine" Miranda agreed stuffing her English book into her locker "Oh Fitz this Tori, Tori this is my slut of a best friend Emma"

"Bitch" Emma elbowed her lightly "Hey Tori, I'm Emma"

"Emma Fitz?" Tori repeated raising her eyebrows "Is your mom Aria Fitz?"

"Yes" Emma answered slowly "How did you know that?"

"I'm Victoria Montgomery"

"Montgomery?" Miranda said

"As in Mike Montgomery he's my father" Tori explained

"Mike is your dad!" Emma asked shocked by the revelation

"Does that make you?"

"Cousins" Tori finished

"Wait, how come I didn't know about you? Where the hell did you come from?" Emma asked still trying to wrap her head around the situation

"My parents had me when they were dating, and Mike left before I was even one years old"

"Holy Shit" Emma whispered bringing her hands to her mouth "Who's your mom?"

"Mona Vanderwall"


	7. Can You Do It?

She hid underneath the cover praying that no one found her. Begging that she would forever be lost in the darkness. Every good thing she had, had been ripped from her hands, her entire reputation would be destroyed. There was no way to fix what had happened she was forever the girl who got pregnant in high school. It was only a matter of time before the entire school found out about her, it was only a matter of time before her parents shipped her off to some deserted island so they wouldn't have to deal with the stigma of a teen pregnancy. It was going to be torture facing her classmates having them judge her. Having all their eyes on her, watching her every move normally she would have jumped at the chance to be the center of attention, but in this situation it frightened her to her core. She wanted to disappear and never return, it was going to be too hard to face everyone after her secret came out. She needed to escape the hell she had fallen into, but how?

"Jess" Alison called quietly pulling the covers off of her daughter "Your gonna be late for school"

"Screw school" she muttered reaching for her blanket

Alison took a seat at the edge of the bed her hand finding its way onto Jess' shoulder in comfort.

"What's going on you haven't been the same since summer ended"

"I'm fine, junior year is just really stressful" She lied swinging her legs onto the floor

"Are you sure that's all?"

'oh and I'm pregnant' Jess thought to herself "Yea that's all"

Alison stood up cautiously waiting for Jess to spill the secret that she was hiding, but unfortunately not another word was spoken. Jess listened for her mother's footsteps waiting until they became just a distant sound, before searching for something to wear.

"Damn you Liam" she whined trying to cover up her small baby bump

"Jess are you almost dressed. I'd like to get to school on time!" Noah shouted through the closed door

"Give me a minute, I'm trying to find my shoes" Jess lied throwing a jacket over herself before storming out of her room

"Finally" Noah complained "Were going to be late for first period roll call"

"Poor Noah, are you afraid your gonna miss roll call or miss admiring the slut from a distance"

"Her name is Emma! And she's not a slut!" Noah screamed defending his crush

"Simmer down" Noel laughed walking up to the bickering kids "Deal with this problem after school" he suggested checking his watch seeing that they only had minutes before school started

"Whatever" Jess whined giving in to her father's wishes before grabbing the keys from the basket at the front door

"What the hell are you thinking?" Noah laughed "No way you're driving my Mustang to school" he declared snatching the keys from his sister's grip

Noah slide into his Mustang his right hand stuffing the key into the ignition before wrapping both hands tightly around the wheel.

"So when are you planning on telling mom and dad" Noah said casually

"Telling them what?"

"You know"

Jess's heart began beating faster as her mind began racing with thoughts. Noah knew about her secret, he knew she was pregnant and he was going to tell everyone.

"I don't know" Jess said quietly

Noah pulled into the parking lot parking into one of the last remaining spots. "Failing math"

"Thank god" Jess said happily realizing that Noah didn't know what she had been hiding

"Well you sure are glad to be failing your best subject. Did you hit your head this morning?" Noah joked pushing her head back slightly

"Shut the hell up" Jess groaned getting out of the car as she strapped her bag to her back strutting rapidly towards the school leaving Noah in her dust

The hallways were filled with students each rushing to their class desperate not to be late. Jess struggled to make her way through the crowd attempting to avoid collisions with other students. She had almost made it to her class when someone grabbed her arms pulling her into the bathroom.

"Liam" she shouted seeing the familiar face "What gives?"

"We need to talk" he said frantically "About the…baby"

"You finally want to talk? And you decide to do it in the men's bathroom" Jess replied glancing around the bathroom to make sure there was no one else in it "Talk"

"What are we going to do?"

"There is no we, you made that clear when you called me a slut who sleeps around" Jess made her way to the door not wanting to continue the discussion "And by the way, you're the only guy I've ever slept with"

"Crap" Liam screamed kicking the bathroom stall causing the door to fly opened "Son of a bitch" his heart raced as he saw him "Why are you in here!" he asked firmly grabbing onto the collar of the boys shirt

"Slow down Thor, you wouldn't want me spreading this around school now would you" Connor gave a devilish grin "The things you hear when you're drinking in a toilet stall" he laughed hiding the empty can of beer in his bag "See you around"

"Jessica Kahn" the teacher called for the third time

"Here!" She replied running into the classroom her appearance slightly disheveled "Sorry I'm late"

"Just take your seat please" the teacher groaned his angry eye following Jess as she sat down

"Excuse me" Liam called into the classroom "I need to borrow Jess Kahn for a few minutes"

"Mr. Cavanagh we are in the middle of class"

"I know, I'm very sorry but this is important student council matter" he lied hoping the teacher wouldn't realize that Jess wasn't on the student council

"Fine" he whined scribbling a quick pass for Jess "Now back to what we were saying these elements are radioactive" Jess listened for as long as she could not wanting to miss a single thing

"Jess" Liam begged her to acknowledge his presence "Jess, listen to me"

"What do you want?" Jess answered angrily

"Connor knows"

"Who the bloody hell is Connor?" Jess asked a confused look on her face

"Connor Rivers, Miranda's little brother"

"Damn it" Jess replied "How did that little weasel find out?"

"He was in the bathroom this morning" Liam explained

"Whatever"

"Whatever?" Liam repeated "What are we going to do?"

"We aren't going to do anything, because there is no us" Jess said crossing her arms over her chest "You don't need to worry about anything, I have everything under control"

"What do you mean under control?" Liam asked nervously

"I mean you have nothing to worry about, I'm going to take care of it"

Jess turned on her heel moving quickly away from the stunned Liam, who couldn't manage speaking another word. She slipped back into her classroom wiping the tear that had escaped her face fearing that someone would notice. Luckily all eyes were on tweedle dee and tweedle dumb as Amy and Emma got themselves assigned detention. Jess longed to return to that time, when she would get detention and receive all the limelight, when she would fight back against what teachers said, when she was excited to go to school. Now she was lucky if she woke up in the morning without getting sick all she longed for was returning back to her old life. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't know if she could do it.


	8. I Spy A Liar

_**Question: What character(s) do you want to hear more about?**_

The music blared from the headphones that were plugged in her ears blocking out all noise from the outside world. Her eyes were closed shut as she let the music flow through her body, her mouth moving almost automatically as she heard the familiar lyrics.

"Damn Montgomery, I get it you can freakin sing" Miranda joked upon hearing Tori's voice

"Sorry" Tori blushed pulling the headphones from her ears "I didn't know anyone was in here" she said looking around the deserted library

"Yea I don't usually come in the library I'm just here caused I'm skipping Trig" Miranda admitted throwing herself into a nearby chair

"Don't you like trig?" Tori questioned "Are you sure you're not avoiding someone"

"I've known you for like two days and you think you know all about me"

"I'm good at reading people, so who are you avoiding?"

"Emma"

"Interesting" Tori smiled

"Why is it interesting?"

"I mean aren't you two like a thing why would you be avoiding her"

"A thing?" Miranda repeated "What does that mean?"

"Aren't you two dating?"

"No" Miranda answered slowly "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know just the way you act around her" Tori explained "Whenever you talk to her you get all flustered and flirty, your always grabbing her hand and kissing her cheek"

"I am not" Miranda lied bringing her hands to her cheeks to cover the pink color that began to take over

"Okay, my mistake" Tori smiled gathering her books into her bag and getting to her feet

"Wait" Miranda called catching Tori at the door "Is it that obvious?"

Tori laughed pushing Miranda gently on the shoulder "Yea, it is"

The pair strolled through the empty halls quietly. Miranda afraid to speak about their previous conversation, Tori sensing her hesitation on the subject.

"Miranda?" someone called

"Liam" she answered her voice sounding angry and disappointed

"Can we talk..alone" he asked glancing at Tori

"Anything you want to say in front of me you can say in front of Tori" Miranda said standing her ground

"I just wanted to know if you've talked to Connor" he stuttered "About me"

"Wow" Miranda laughed "You hold yourself on a high pedestal don't you. Just because I had a crush on you at the beginning of the year doesn't mean I still have a crush on you"

"You had a crush on me?" Liam asked veering off of the previous topic

"Key word did, sorry she has to break your heart like this but it's in the past. I hope you can get through this hard time" Tori smiled pulling Miranda away from him "Your welcome"

He watched the two sped away his heart beat increasing. They knew, they were only minutes away from telling everyone about Jess, minutes away from no only destroying Jess' reputation but his future.

"Liam" he heard his mother call his name snapping him out of his thoughts

"Yes" he met her eyes him hand playing nervously with his fork

"Your father asked how your day was"

Liam turned to his dad "It was good, I was real busy with some student council stuff and practicing with the debate team. You know how it is" he smiled looking at his mom

"It's a lot of stress, but it's worth it in the end just look at your cousin"

"That's really different Melanie worked her ass off for four years she never had any fun"

"Is a four years of fun more important than a successful future?" Toby asked bringing the forkful of chicken to his mouth "Is it?"

"No, I guess not" Liam answered quietly

"Liam, are you sure everything is okay? You haven't seemed the same since the end of summer"

"It's just junior year, it's hard to juggle debate, swimming, student council, and applying into colleges"

"You'll get through it" Spencer said encouraging Liam to continue improving his skills

She sat in front of them her leg shaking uncontrollably beneath her. Her breathing became rapid as she met their eyes knowing that once she told them they would never look at her the same way.

"Jess" Alison said sweetly "What is it?"

"I'm…" she stuttered "I'm"

"She's failing math" Noah butted in saving Jess from admitted what she truly wanted to

"Jess is this true?" Noel asked

"Yes" Jess nodded giving Noah a quick look of thanks

"Jess, you don't need to be afraid to tell us anything, it's okay that your off to a rough start but you'll get your grade up" Alison grinned pulling her daughter into her embrace

"I have to admit you had me scared for a moment" Noel replied getting to his feet and walking towards the dining room table "I thought you were going to tell us that your pregnant"

"That's ridiculous" Jess said giving a fake laugh "I don't even have a boyfriend"

"That's not what I heard" Alison said placing the pasta onto the table "I had coffee with Hanna today and she told me Connor told her that you and Liam Cavanagh are dating"

Jess gave another fake laugh as she tried to formulate a lie "Me and Liam? No were not dating, I would never date someone like Liam, he's too studious for me"

"That's how I felt about your father, but it all worked out"

"Dad to studious?" Noah laughed "Now that's funny"

"Do you mind if I'm go to my room, I'm not very hungry" Jess asked politely

"Of course, go lie down I hope you feel better" Alison smiled watching her daughter disappear up the stairs

"Liam!" Jess yelled into her phone once she reached her room "What the hell is the matter with you? Did you even try to talk to Connor?"

"Jessica calm down" Liam begged "I'll talk to him tomorrow at school, I'll make a deal or something"

"You better hurry, I can feel this secret getting out of hand"

"I promise, just please calm down we'll get through this okay?"

"Okay" Jess repeated "Thank you" she hung up the phone wiping her face free of tears

"So it's true?" Noah said his body leaning in her doorway "What Connor told me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Jess lied kicking off her shoes and throwing herself onto her bed

"Jess don't lie to me" Noah begged closing her door "Are you pregnant or not?"


	9. Who's To Blame?

Her leg shook rapidly underneath her desk her right hand clenched firmly around her pen while her left hand tapped the desk violently. She couldn't keep still she needed to keep moving, she needed to hear the bell so she could find her new friend and borrow more of his "study aid"

"Connor!" she screamed finding him in the hallway after the bell had rung "Can we talk, it's super important" she said the words flowing from her mouth quickly

"Of course" He smiled silently laughing at the young girl "What can I do for you?"

"I need some more"

"I'm not a dealer, you said you needed it to get through one test"

"I have another test tomorrow, please just two more" She begged

"Two more that's it!" He demanded discreetly passing her two pills

"Thank you" So smiled brightly stuffing the pills in her pocket before quickly disappearing down the hall

"Connor?" Miranda said giving her brother a questioning look "What were you giving to Ella?"

"Nothing" he lied turning into the opposite direction and moving away from his sister

"What the hell?" Miranda said to herself

"Talking to yourself? You should consult a doctor about that" Tori laughed

"Oh you poor sophomore, you think your funny" Miranda pouted

"I don't think I'm funny, I know I am"

Miranda watched as Noah strutted down the hallway his hand wrapped in Emma's. She still didn't know what it meant, how she felt. She still didn't know if she actually had feelings for Emma or if she was just jealous that Emma had someone special in her life.

"Miranda" Tori whispered in her ear "You're drooling"

"Am not" Miranda whined wiping her mouth "I wasn't even looking at her, them" she corrected

"You're such a bad liar" Tori observed before turning on her heel and heading towards her class

"I'll see you later?" Noah smiled leaning into Emma's lips kissing her gently as her hands wrapped around his neck

"Sure" Emma grinned her fingers rifling through his hair "Hey Miranda" she greeted after Noah had left

"Hi"

"Are you okay?" Emma asked sensing Miranda's unusual quiet voice

"Perfect" Miranda answered angrily storming away from the brunette not wanting to speak with her

She laid in her bed, waiting for the moment when her phone went off. She knew he would be calling soon once he realized she wasn't in school. She knew he would be worried not only about her but himself, if this secret got out if would bring them both down.

"Hello?" she said sleepily into the phone

"Jessica, where the hell are you? Are you okay? Is it the baby? What's going on?" Liam asked frantically through the phone

"Liam, calm the freak down. I'm fine, I just couldn't face Noah today. He knows"

"Damn it" Liam whined "How?"

"How do you think?"

"Connor" Liam answered as if he was reading Jess's mind

"Yup, don't worry Noah didn't tell anyone, yet"

"Do you need me to come over?" Liam asked

"Can you?" Jess answered nervously "My parents aren't here, so we can talk about what we're going to do"

"Okay, I'm on my way" Liam said his nerves seeming to calm down "I'll be there in a few minutes"

Liam bolted from the empty classroom he had been hiding in moving quickly to the parking lot. It was weird, ditching school for the first time. Leaving without a legitimate reason, damn his parents were going to flip. He jumped into his truck throwing his bag into the back and placing the keys in the ignition.

"Son of a bitch!" Liam yelled as he saw the figure standing in front of his car

"Are you going to see her?" Noah asked walking towards the driver side window "Well!" he asked agitated

"Yes" Liam answered slowly

"I'm coming" He declared jumping into the passenger seat

Liam kept his eyes firmly on the road never looking at Noah for even a moment afraid of feeling his judgment and anger.

"It's yours?" Noah asked breaking the uncomfortable silence

"Yea" Liam answered quickly not wanting to discuss it any longer

"When did you?"

"I.." he began "I'd rather we talk about this when we get to your house"

"Fine with me" Noah said crossing his arms over his chest his eyes darting away from Liam and towards the road watching as the tress near the school became distant blurs

They pulled into the driveway ten minutes later each of them drowning in silence. The door flung opened and the distraught Jess stood in the door way staring into the face of her brother and the father of her baby, a deadly combination.

"Noah?" Jess said confused "Why are you here?"

"I want to hear you out, I overreacted the other day. I'm sorry for yelling at you"

"You yelled at her?" Liam asked his fists clenching tightly as he stepped into the living room

"Liam calm down it's okay" Jess reassured him her fingers grazing over his fist "Noah what do you want to know?"

"Tell me how it happened?" Noah twitched "Not _how_ but like when, where, and why!"

"Noah if I tell you, you have to promise me you won't tell mom and dad"

"I promise" He agreed his eyes staring angrily at Liam

_Flashback_

_ The DJ turned up the music causing it to echo throughout the crowded cabin. Liam saw her from across the room, her golden hair flowing down her back, her blue eyes shining like the ocean. He stumbled over to her his drink spilling slightly as he approached her group. _

"_Hey" she greeted happily her own hand holding tightly to a red cup filled with vodka _

"_Hi" he smiled "Do you want to dance?" _

"_I might," she teased "It depends are you a good dancer?"_

"_You'll have to wait and see" he outstretched his hand waiting for her to grab it _

"_I have to warn you, if you're a sucky dancer you're going to have to make it up to me"_

"_I will" he whispered in her ear pulling her body closer to his _

_ The two moved towards the center of the floor the space between them becoming nonexistent as the music continued to blast. _

"_Do you want to get out of here?" Liam asked _

"_Why not?" Jess answered laughing as if it were a joke _

_ Liam took hold of her hand guiding her off to an empty room. _

"_Now what are we supposed to do alone in an empty room?" Jess asked drunkenly _

"_I could think of a few things" Liam smiled pulling her into his lips _

_ There was no time to think, he kissed her harder slipping his tongue quickly into her mouth before pushing her onto the bed. Her arms wrapped around his neck as his hands tugged at the bottom of her shirt. She felt his breath on her neck as his kisses began to trail further down her body, stopping only when he reached the brim of her jeans. _

"_Do you?" he began only to be cut off by Jess rolling over and ending up on top of him her hands playing with the buttons of his shirt _

"And that's kind of how it happened" Jess awkwardly explained

"You slept with my sister while she was drunk at my party!" Noah said angrily getting onto his feet "What the hell is the matter with you"

"Noah calm down, it's not his fault" Jess tried to console her brother

"Not his fault? He's the one who brought you into the room, he got you pregnant, are you an idiot it's all his fault" Noah yelled pushing Liam forcefully in the chest "You ruined her life!" he yelled louder punching him in the chin throwing him onto the ground

"What the hell is going on in here?" Alison asked seeing the fight that was unfolding in front of her


	10. That's What They Call Denial

"What the hell is going on?"

Hearing her voice sent chills up her spine making her hair stand on its ends and forcing her heart beat to increase drastically. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this. Her mom had just walked in on Noah beating Liam up, the boy she had told her mom that she wouldn't never date and yet here he was in her living room when she was supposed to be sick in bed.

"Jessica Cecilia Kahn!" Alison yelled "What is going on?"

"I…" She stuttered "I'm dating Liam and Noah doesn't approve!" she lied not even realizing what she had said before it was too late

"That doesn't explain why Liam is here without parental supervision" Alison said pulling Noah off of the floor

"I'm sorry Mrs. Kahn really I am, I heard that Jessica wasn't feeling very well today so I wanted to make her some soup" Liam smiled hoping she would believe the lie

"Where is it?" Alison asked looking around the room "Where's the soup"

"Umm" Liam began

"He thought we had some, but we don't so he was going to head to the store and pick some up" Noah explained "But he never left because I started a fight with him, because I don't think he's good enough for my sister" Noah lied looking towards Jess

"I understand that you love your sister, but you can't chose who she dates. Now if you don't mind I think Jess needs to rest so Liam, Noah you should head back to school"

"Of course Mrs. Kahn. I'll call you later Jessica" Liam smiled walking quickly towards the door Noah close behind him "Thank you so much" he said quietly once they reached the car

"Don't thank me yet, this isn't over"

"What do you mean?" Liam asked nervously

"I mean I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this news yet" Noah gave a devilish smile as he buckled up

She splashed cold water across her face desperate to rid herself of the heavy marks underneath her eyes. Her eyes felt heavy and yet she couldn't sleep he body craved the feeling from the pills, she didn't just want them. She needed them.

"Ella?"

She turned unaware of the other girl in the bathroom "Yea"

"Are you okay?" Miranda asked looking deeply into her eyes

"Fine, why?" Ella asked feeling her hands begin to shake

"Son of a bitch, Connor gave you his pills!"

"What?" Ella lied trying to sound surprised by the accusation "No"

"Don't lie to me, I know what it looks like when your speeding" Miranda explained her head gripping Ella's chin as she examined her tired eyes "Trust me, I've done it"

"Please don't tell Emma" Ella begged "I've only taken like four pills, it's practically nothing"

"Ella, this is how it starts. You start out only taking one or two pills than you start to crave them you feel like you need them to go on this is how the addiction starts, promise me you're done"

"I'm done"

"If I suspect you doing it again, I'm gonna have to tell someone whether it be Emma or your parents I can't protect you from this" Miranda warned

"I promise I won't do it"

"Good" Miranda said leaving the confines of the bathroom

She took a deep breath reaching into her pocket pulling out a plastic bag filled with several pills shoving two into her mouth swallowing them quickly.

"Addiction" Ella laughed moving swiftly from the bathroom

The lunch room was quiet most students taking advantage of the warm weather and eating their lunch in the quad. Tori laid her head down on the table waiting for Miranda to arrive desperate for advice.

"Miranda, thank god" Tori said excitedly seeing Miranda approaching the table her lunch tray firmly in hand

"What's up with you?"

"I heard this rumor, and I don't know what to do about it" Tori admitted

"Well let me hear it, I love me so juicy secrets"

"You're not going to like it" Tori said cautiously "I heard from Isabelle, who heard from Ella who heard from Amy who heard from Connor that someone's pregnant"

"Someone as in?"

"Emma"

"No friggin way!" Miranda yelled loudly

"Shhh!" Tori said looking around the room making sure no one had heard them "It might not be her, but the rumor I heard said that Noah left school to visit some pregnant girl. If you hadn't noticed Emma isn't here today"

"There's no way she's pregnant" Miranda said in disbelief

"Like I said I don't know if it's her"

"I swear if she's pregnant, I'm going to beat the crap out of Noah"

"Can I help?" Tori suggested

"I've suddenly lost my appetite, the thought of Emma having a baby makes me want to barf" Miranda frowned getting to her feet pushing her tray away from her "Do you want to ditch? Maybe go to the mall or something?"

"Cool, I've got nothing better to do"

The pair left the lunch room quickly ready to get out of the school and away from all the rumors that had begun circulating.

"Kahn?" someone whispered

"Yea?" he answered craning his head around at the sound of his name

"Is it true that you got Emma Fitz pregnant?"

"What!" Noah said loudly "No, she's not"

"This is what they call denial, buddy" the student laughed as he turned to the kid next to him "It's true Kahn knocked somebody up!"


	11. Ruined

Her stomach ached in pain as a result of the food poisoning she was so badly suffering from. Her head was buried deeply in her pillow, her ears catching the faint sound of her phone.

"Hello" she groaned

"I need to know the truth" Miranda spoke rapidly never giving Emma a moment to speak "Did you have sex with Noah?"

"I thought I was the one who was sick, why are you acting crazy?"

"Just answer the question, it's insanely important"

"Maybe" Emma answered secretly

"For the love of God Emma, can you give me a straight answer!"

"Why the hell do you need to know?"

"Son of a bitch. It's freaking true!" Miranda yelled hanging up the phone

She slammed her phone onto the restaurant table her head falling slowly into hands.

"So, want to split cheese fries?" Tri asked trying to stir up a conversation

"I can't believe this" Miranda mumbled her head sit buried in her hands "I can't believe it" she repeated

"Miranda calm down" Tori smiled reaching her hand over to Miranda's "Everything is going to work out"

She raised her head tears flowing from her eyes "How? How the hell is everything going to work out, my best friend is pregnant"

Tori shuffled over to the other side of the table wrapping her right arm around the tearful girl "It's going to work out because you have me, and your family and Emma, you think this is hard for you but imagine how hard it is for her"

Miranda sniffled laying her head onto Tori's shoulder "Thank you Victoria seriously you've done so much to help me over these past few days"

"You don't need to thank me"

"Yes, I do" Miranda said picking her head up looking Tori straight in the eyes "You've helped me so much, and you really didn't need to"

"You've done a lot for me to Mira, you became my friend when no one else would"

"Mira?" Miranda smiled her ocean blue eyes locked firmly on Tori's chocolate brown eyes

"I told you I would give you a nickname" She smiled her arm still rested comfortably on Miranda's shoulder

"Thanks" Miranda's face finally free of tears "Really…" she said slowly the distance between them closing "Thanks"

"You can stop saying thanks" Tori laughed feeling the warmth of Miranda's breathe on her as their faces became only inches apart

"I don't know how to thank you" Miranda admitted

"I could think of a way" Tori smiled moving closer to Miranda her lips pressing softly against the other girls

'Holy crap!' Miranda thought to herself as she felt Tori's lips on her own, feeling her hand intertwine with the younger girl's as if they had a mind of their own

"Excuse me" the waiter coughed awkwardly "Can I take your order?"

"Sure" Miranda said breathlessly her hand still held tightly in Tori's

Emma sat in her bed her mind racing with confusion due to her previous conversation with Miranda. What had she been talking about, what was true? Why did Miranda need to know if she had slept with Noah? What was so important about it?

"Emma!" Aria yelled loudly bursting into her bedroom "Emma!"

"What?" Emma answered her hand holding her head "Can you please be quiet I have a headache"

"I need you to come downstairs, there's someone here"

Emma groaned as she slide from her bed wrapping her bathrobe around her body forcing her feet into her puppy dog slippers.

"Are you sure you want to wear that?" Aria asked nervously

"Mom, I'm in the confines of my own house I don't give a damn about what I wear"

Emma shuffled down the stair slowly pulling her hair into a tight messy bun as she entered the living room.

"Holy shit" she whispered as she came face to face with Noah and his family each sitting on the couch wearing the same look of fear

"Emma please sit" Ezra said motioning Emma towards the couch

"What exactly is going on?" She asked nervously suddenly embarrassed by her disheveled appearance

"Honey, Alison and Noel have shared so information with us" Aria explained sitting beside her husband taking her hand in his

"What kind of information?"

"Emma are you pregnant?" Ezra asked

"What!" Emma answered completely caught off guard "I have no freaking idea what you're talking about"

"Emma please don't lie to us, Noah told us about the two of you"

"Noah what the hell, we never slept together!" Emma said furiously her eyes glaring at Noah

"Noah, what's going on?" Alison asked sensing that Emma was telling the truth

"Emma's not pregnant." He stuttered feeling his words become stuck in his throat

"Who is?" Noel asked "We've all heard the rumors"

"Just some girl" Noah lied "Some one night stand, from a party"

"You got someone pregnant?" Emma asked feeling her heart break inside her chest "Was it" Emma tried to say the words scared to hear the truth "Was it when we were together?"

"Emma please let me explain"

"I don't want to hear any of your crap! You need to leave" Emma got to her feet rushing towards the front door "Get the hell out of my house and don't ever think about coming back!"

"Aria" Alison said sadly "I am so sorry, he told us someone was pregnant and we just assumed, because he had been spending a lot of time with Emma"

"Just leave you've caused enough destruction for today" Aria answered harshly

"Chill out Aria, we didn't do anything wrong" Noel shouted defending his wife "And you can't blame us for assuming Emma was pregnant I mean she's you daughter and we all know what you were doing when you were in high school!" Noel said his eyes darting towards Ezra

"You need to leave! Now" Ezra shouted following the actions set by his daughter and stomping towards the door

Emma watched as the family left her eyes wet as tears drifted down her cheeks.

"Oh my god" She cried "This is what Miranda was talking about"

"Em, what are you talking about?" Aria sked wiping a tear from her daughters face

"Miranda was asking me about me and Noah, she probably heard some rumor" She explained dropping herself back onto the couch

"Are you afraid about what people at school will think?"

"Obviously, I mean you believed the rumor I bet everyone else does to" Emma brought a pillow to her face screaming into it loudly "That douchebag ruined my life!"

_**Question: How do you feel about Tori and Miranda? **_


	12. I Need You

The house was filled with the delicious smell of bacon as Hanna prepared her usual Saturday family breakfast. Miranda silently took her seat, her eyes glued onto her phone as she nervously waited for it to ring. Caleb ran into the kitchen a smile on his face the kind you would find on a child on Christmas Day.

"You made bacon and French toast?" He said excitedly

"Yes Caleb, and if you're a good boy you can have chocolate milk" Hanna joked treating Caleb like a child

"Thank you Mrs. Rivers" he smiled kissing her cheek "Miranda?" Caleb said as he took his seat

"What?" she answered more harshly than she intended to "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap"

"It's okay" Caleb reassured her "I just wanted to remind you no phones at the table"

"I was just waiting for Tori to answer my text"

"Tori?" Hanna said confused "Don't you normally text Emma at this time to discuss your wardrobe for the day" she asked glancing at her watch "Are you and Emma okay?'

"Fine, she's spending the day with her family and I didn't want to bother her" Miranda lied

"Connor!" Hanna yelled down the hall "Breakfast"

Connor emerged from his room dark circles underneath both his eyes.

"Connor are you okay?" Caleb asked seeing his son's tired and dreary eyes

"I'm perfect, I stayed up all night working, I had an crap ton of homework, but that was boring me so I tried to hack into the school's database to try and get some test answers"

"Connor!" Hanna said disappointed placing the plates onto the table taking her seat next to Caleb

"What, it's not like I did anything wrong Dad taught me how to hack into stuff" Connor explained quickly "and plus it doesn't matter that I didn't do my homework because I have extended time"

"Connor" Hanna repeated "Did you take your medication today?"

"No, I couldn't though there wasn't any more and I doesn't matter because I'm fine and I don't really need to take it cause Ella needs it more than me, but whatever" Connor smiled "Did you know that when you hack into something you have hack into the website's backdoor and not the front door that's how hacking works, its super cool"

"Connor, did you say Ella has been taking your medication?"

"Yea, she said it helps her focus on school, when she takes the medicine she can stay up all night and study so she gets good grades"

"Caleb?" Hanna said her voice conveying her terror "I'm calling Aria, get Connor in the car"

"Aria?"

"Hanna, what's wrong?" Aria asked sensing Hanna's nervous tone

"We have a problem"

Aria rushed upstairs only one thought on her mind, as she bursted into Ella's room finding her passed out on her bed.

"Ella Rose get your ass out of bed this instant!" Aria yelled loudly removing the covers from her daughter's body

"What the hell!" Ella screamed surprised at her mother's action "What's your problem?"

"My problem?" Aria repeated "What about your problem, I finally understand why you've been acting so strange"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm acting the same way I always do"

"Ella" Aria said tears beginning to form in her eyes "I want to help you"

"I don't need help" Ella replied climbing out of her bed and onto her feet a plastic bag falling from her lap

"What the hell?" Aria said grabbing the bag of pills "How long has this been going on?"

"Can you cool it with the yelling you woke me up!" Emma whined rubbing her tired eyes as she entered Ella's room "What the hell is going…" she began "Are those Connor's ADHD meds?"

"No, it's Tylenol" Ella lied reaching for the bag

"Holy crap Ella, are you speeding?"

"Emma I'm handling this, can you please get your father from his study"

"Are you sure you don't want anything else?" Liam asked as Jess downed her second bowl of cereal

"No, I'm good I feel like I've eaten everything from your fridge" Jess grinned wiping the few drops of milk from her chin

"You're a month pregnant, you need to eat"

"That doesn't mean I need to go through your entire supply of food, your mom's gonna be pissed when she gets home"

"Please" Liam laughed "She won't even notice, and plus she's getting back really late tonight my dad to"

"That sucks, don't you get lonely"

"Sometimes, but it's better now" Liam smiled clearing Jess's plate

"What's different about now?"

"You're here"

"I thought I was a slut, and a bitch, and a selfish bully who only cares about herself"

"I never said that, well the slut part" Liam frowned recalling that memory "But I apologized, and I don't think you're a bitch or any of those other awful things you said"

"I'm sure there was a time when you did" Jess said sadly walking over to the couch

"I admit there was, but looking at you now all I can see is a brave, loving, beautiful girl"

"Your making me blush" Jess smiled at the comment "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were flirting with me Mr. Cavanagh"

"Funny" Liam laughed "Are you doing anything today? We could stay in and watch a movie? I'll even make you my famous popcorn"

"Famous popcorn?"

"Don't knock it till you try it, the only thing is the TV out here is broken so we'll have to go in my room" Liam explained "Is that okay?"

"Yea no problem what's the worst that can happen, I'm already pregnant"

"Did you think we wouldn't find out?" Ezra yelled "What were you thinking!"

"Obviously she wasn't" Aria replied "Ella do you understand how dangerous this is?"

"I…" Ella stuttered "It's not that big of a deal, I've only had like five pills" She lied her hands shaking violently

"We know that's a lie Ella, Connor gave you most of his pills, there was at least fifty in there. Honey that's a lot more than five" Aria said her anger replaced with fear

"I'm fine, I'll stop taking them. I promise"

"Ella I wish we could believe that" Ezra said calmly

"What do you mean?" Ella asked nervously

"Ella you need to get help" Aria said sadly

"Please don't say what I think you're going to say" Ella begged "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to get out of control, but I can handle it myself. I'll get better"

"You will Ella, just not here"

"Mom, please don't say it" Ella begged once again

"We don't want to Ella, we have to" Ezra explained "If you want to get better"

"I do but I don't want to leave, you can't just send me away"

"I'm sorry Ella" Aria apologized "I'll pack a bag for you"

"You can't send me away!" Ella screamed "You can't" she repeated desperately trying to get to the door

"Ella stop, stop" Ezra said grabbing his daughter around the waist

"I hate you! I hate you both!" She screamed louder than before kicking her legs and flailing her arms trying to wiggling her way free of her father's grip "I hate you" she whispered tears overwhelming her

Emma sat her ear pressed firmly on the door listening to every word her sister yelled, every insult she cried and every desperate attempt to get free.

"Hey Miranda" she sniffled "It's Emma, I really need to talk to you its really important, more important than the time I called you to discuss my red highlights" Emma joked trying to lighten the mood "So please call me back, I need you"


	13. Anything

The day was coming to a close the sun leaving the sky the moon taking its place. Darkness leaking into the room leaving the only light emanating from the small TV screen. His hand somehow made its way to her shoulder holding her closely to his side, her head leaning in the crook of his neck her eyes flickering as her mind drifted off to sleep.

"What the hell?" She said upon entering her house seeing the various cereal boxes, milk cartoons and snack wrappers littered around the kitchen "Someone got hungry"

She released the milk carton from her hand, knowing that there was no way Liam could have eaten that much especially due to the fact that he was lactose intolerant.

"Liam!" She shouted making her way down the hall the purse held tightly to her shoulder her hand swinging the door opened quickly

"Ryan!" Liam shot up out of bed his arms moving swiftly from underneath Jess's body sending her flying off the bed "Crap"

"I'm fine, the only thing bruised is my dignity" Jess laughed desperate to diffuse the tension

"Who the hell is she?" Ryan asked pointing towards Jess

"Liam who the hell is she?"

"Jess this is my older sister Ryan, Ryan this is Jess, Jess Kahn" Liam lowered his voice "Are you sure you're okay? How's the…" Liam asked hoping Jess understood what he meant

"The what?" Ryan questioned her eyes growing wider "Liam you freaking idiot! Please tell me you didn't!"

There was no answer his eyes drifting as far away from Ryan as they could go.

"Liam Tyler Cavanagh you didn't" Ryan felt her heart skip a beat as she caught sight of her brother's small nod "You not only got a teenage girl pregnant, but you got Mom's friends daughter pregnant! Are you freakin mental!"

"What's with all the yelling?" Spencer asked entering the bedroom with Toby close behind her "Do you mind telling me what's going on?" She asked seeing Liam sitting uncomfortably in the bed, Jess kneeling on the floor and Ryan leaning on the wall

"I need you" Miranda held the phone tight to her ear listening to Emma's voice. Hearing her desperation and fear, she knew that Emma needed her help she just didn't know if she was ready to face her.

"Are you okay?" Tori asked tearing her eyes away from the TV screen for a moment to address her quiet friend

"I'm fine"

"You're lying" Tori observed sliding her feet from the coffee table and turning towards Miranda "It's Emma"

"Jesus Christ, I hate it when you do that"

"When I do what?" Tori questioned

"Read my mind, it's freaky"

"I told you I'm good at reading people" Tori laughed tucking her dark hair behind her ears grabbing her glasses from the table and placing them back onto her face "We can talk later if you want to go see Emma"

"No, I don't really feel like talking to her" Miranda dropped her head to the back of the couch "I know I sound like a selfish bitch but I still can't believe she didn't tell me that she was pregnant"

"Shut the hell up" Tori whined "You're not a bitch, your one of the nicest people I've ever met and if you can't face Emma yet than don't go"

"I hate you sometimes" Miranda smiled picking her head off of the couch

"Because you know I'm right?" Tori taunted "For the record I hate you to" she grinned looking back towards the TV

"Tori" Miranda said slowly "Can we talk about the other day?"

"You mean when.." Tori answered slowly "I kissed you?"

"Yea" Miranda replied awkwardly

Emma didn't know what she was thinking, maybe she wasn't at all. Before she ever knew what she was doing she had jumped to her feet and ran into Ella's bedroom her parent's eyes darting towards her.

"Emma were in the middle of something" Ezra said

"You can't send Ella away!" Emma begged

"Honey, I know you don't want to see your sister leave but it's what for the best she has a problem"

"Mom," Emma's voice broke "She doesn't have the problem I do"

"You?" Ezra and Aria said in unison

"Yes" Emma lied "Ella was just trying to help me"

"Emma, we know Connor was giving the pills to Ella"

"No, I told him they were for Ella but really they were for me. I'm sorry"

"Emma" Aria said her own voice cracking "You let us believe it was your sister?"

"I'm sorry, I really am I just couldn't face what I did"

"Ella is this true? Where you trying to protect Emma?" Ezra asked turning towards his younger daughter

"Yes" She answered quietly avoiding Emma's eyes afraid she would crack under the pressure

"I'm sorry for the way we acted Ella" Aria apologized "As for you, I don't even know who you are anymore!"

"Mom I'm sorry" Emma cried tears overwhelming her

"So am I" Aria said angrily getting to her feet the plastic bag held tightly in her hand "Pack your bag, your leaving tomorrow"

"What?" Emma said not thinking that she was going to be sent to rehab "Please you can't"

"Emma, we have no choice" Ezra replied his tone indicating his complete disappointment as he rose from the bed storming from the bedroom

"Emma?" Ella whispered tears forming in her own eyes "Why would you do that?"

"I'm your sister, my job is to protect you" Emma explained a faint smile emerging on her face "But I swear to god if you don't stop popping pills I will kill you"

"I don't know what to say"

"Say you'll stop doing drugs you little idiot" Emma demanded pulling her into her arms "And please do me a favor"

"Anything"

"Don't tell Miranda, she'll be super pissed"

"What am I supposed to tell her?"

"Ella, please just make something up for me?"

"Of course, Emma I would do anything for you" Ella promised hugging her sister tighter


	14. Revealed

"Well?" Spencer said stepping further into the room her arms crossed firmly over her chest, her eyes locked on her son "What's going on?"

"You really want to know?" Ryan asked a sick smile crossing her face "I walked in on these two" she pointed her smile never fading

"Ryan!" Liam begged

"I caught them smooching, apparently Mr. Liam has a girlfriend" Ryan lied

"Liam" Toby began "You know the rules, you aren't allowed to have a girls over if there isn't parental supervision"

"Dad we weren't doing anything, just watching a movie"

"Still, Liam you didn't obey our rules" Spencer explained "Jess, do you need me to call your parents to pick you up?"

"No!" She answered quickly "I'll walk its fine"

"Jess? Do your parents know you're here?"

"No" Jess admitted quietly

"Toby, would you please call Alison and tell her to come pick up her daughter" Spencer said firmly "Liam I would like to talk to you after Jess leaves"

"Of course" Liam agreed watching his mom follow dad into the living room "Ryan, what the hell?"

"Are you seriously yelling at me?" Ryan asked sounding hurt "I just saved both of your asses!"

"How in anyway did you save us? You basically screwed both of us over!"

"I didn't tell mom and dad about your, problem" Ryan said looking down at Jess's stomach "But if you want me to tell them I could" she suggested turning her back to leave the room

"Please, Ryan don't" Liam begged "Were trying to deal with this"

"Deal with this, you have to tell someone! You can't do this alone"

"I'm not alone I have Jess"

"What happens when people at school find out?" Ryan asked

"We'll deal with it!"

"You'll deal with it" Ryan laughed "You a freaking idiot if you think you can deal with it"

"How the hell would you know!" Liam yelled jumping to his feet reaching for Jess's hand pulling her off the ground

"Trust me baby brother, I would know"

And with the Ryan disappeared from the room looking back longer enough for Liam to catch a glimpse of the tears that were forming in her eyes.

"Damn your sisters a bitch" Jess observed

"No she's not, she's just looking out for me"

"Now it's just you? What happened to us?"

"Us? Jessica are you crazy there is no us, there never was" Liam said angrily sliding his hand out of hers

"Wow" Jess laughed taking a step away from him "You're a real piece of work, I can't believe I thought you could make a decent father, you'd be nothing more than a deadbeat"

"Don't you dare call me that, I've done everything I could to help you! I've lied to my family, my friends! For god sakes I'm willing to give up my future to help you!" Liam said louder "Now please tell me how does that make me a"

"Liam!" Toby interrupted "What the hell is going on? Why are you to having a yelling match?"

"Nothing, I think I just chose the wrong girl to hang out with" He answered shuffling his feet as he made it way to the living room where his mother and sister waited anxiously for the arrival of Jess's parents

"Is everything okay?" Spencer asked watching as Jess took a seat on the couch Liam sitting as far away from her as possible

"Fine" Jess lied her hands folding onto her lap covering her stomach

"There here" Toby said seeing a car pull into their driveway

"Wonderful" Liam whispered to himself

Alison rushed inside her hand gripped firmly around Noel's, Noah angrily dragging his feet behind them.

"Jessica! You told me you went over to April's house!" Alison said her voice stern conveying the anger that she was feeling

"I didn't want you to freak out, kind of like you are now" Jess replied rolling her eyes at the sight of her brother "Why is he here?"

"Why can't I be?" Noah asked "I mean I'm a part of this"

"Noah, how are you a part of this?" Noel questioned turning to face his son

"I'm keeping their secret" He smiled

Jess could feel her heart beat out of control her, lungs feeling as if they were going to burst. This was it, Noah was going to tell. The secret was going to come out, she was going to be ruined! Everything she worked for would be gone, everyone she hurt would come back at her making fun of the situation she had gotten herself into.

"What secret?" Alison asked

"Surprise, surprise they haven't told you yet" Noah laughed "Do you want to know what they've been hiding from you?"

"Noah!" Jess pleaded

"Jessica what are you keeping from us?"

"It's nothing important" Ryan butted in

"You know?" Spencer asked "You've been home for like two minutes"

"Maybe I'm more observant than you" Ryan suggested

"Everyone needs to calm the hell down! Liam, Jess you both need to tell us the truth I don't think any of us can deal with anymore lies" Toby demanded

Liam looked at Jess "Umm…."

"I thought I was pregnant!" Jess blurted

"What!" Alison and Noel said in unison

"Oh my god!" Spencer shook her head in shock

"Someone kill me" Liam whined hearing the explosion of gasps from the parents


	15. The Truth Won't Set You Free

_**Question: What character(s) do you want to learn more about?**_

"So" Miranda said slowly "What exactly does this mean?"

"Hell if I know"

"Have you ever noticed your nose twitches each time you curse?" Miranda laughed unintentionally changing the subject "It's like your body rejects it"

"Does not!" Tori defended herself smacking Miranda lightly on the arm

"Yes it does" Miranda couldn't stop herself from laughing finding this trait humorous "If you don't believe me curse"

"Crap" Tori said causally

"You twitched"

"I didn't freaking twitch"

"You did it again"

"You're full of shit"

"You didn't twitch" Miranda observed "Interesting"

"I hate you"

"Now we both know that's not true, if you did you wouldn't have kissed me"

"For your information you kissed me back" Tori grinned raising her eyebrow

"What was I supposed to do smack you away?"

"That would've been awkward" Tori glanced at her hand mindlessly playing with her fingers "Listen I don't know what this means, all I know is ever since the day I met you, I just couldn't stop thinking about your smile and your laugh and"

Miranda shut her up in the only way she knew how to, crashing their lips together.

"You talk way too much" Miranda laughed pulling her face from Tori's "You should work on that"

"So what does this?"

"Shut up!" Miranda begged once again pulling Tori into her lips

Spencer paced nervously throughout her living room, while Alison sat still shocked on the couch, Toby restraining Noel in his seat afraid any minute he would lunge at Liam.

"Please explain to me, why you thought you were pregnant, you need to have sex in order to be pregnant and you haven't had sex. Right?" Noel asked "Jessica?" he repeated when his daughter didn't respond

"I have, the last month of August" Jess admitted her eyes locked on her shoes

"And why did you think?" Alison began

"I don't know? I was just being paranoid"

"But there is still the possibility of you being pregnant" Spencer said

"No" Liam interrupted "She took a test today, that's why she was here when you and Dad were out"

"Noah, what you said about that girl being pregnant, you were lying to protect your sister?" Alison asked

"Yea, I knew you heard the rumors and I just wanted to keep my sister safe" Noah lied

"I can't take this" Alison said resting her head in her hands "We need to go home and talk"

"Alison, this involves all of us not just your daughter!" Spencer yelled

"It's completely different for you!" Alison screamed getting to her feet grabbing onto Jess' wrist "Your son wouldn't lose everything, my daughter would!"

"Mom, can you please chill out nothing's changed"

"Nothing's changed? Jessica you're a completely different person now!"

"Dad?" Jess said looking towards her father

"I agree with your mother, everything has changed! Thank you for calling us Toby, we'll let you know how everything works out"

"Jessica" Noel began finally back in the confines of his own house "Why did you do this?"

"I wasn't something I planned to do, it just sort of happened"

"This isn't something that just happens"

"Really, your one to talk"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Noel asked

"I think your being a hypocrite, I mean you were the one who cheated on Mom and when she asked why your exact words were "It just kind of happened" isn't that why you guys got divorced?"

"You have no right to bring that up you were too young to understand"

"How about now?" Jess yelled "you've made a lot more mistakes than I have, so cut the disappointed parent crap! One mistake in sixteen years, you can't freaking judge me just based on this"

"Miranda, can you get the door"

"Sure, I'll be right back" She smiled running towards the front door leaving Tori waiting in her room

"What the hell do you want?"

"I need a place to stay, Emma's out of town, Amy's a bitch, and my other friends are avoiding me, so you're my only choice"

"Oh that makes me feel so good, but you can't come in. I already have a friend over"

"I'm shocked"

"That I won't let you in?"

"No that you have a friend" Jess teased pushing her way past Miranda her bag strapped on her shoulder

"Miranda, who's here?" Tori asked stepping into the hallway her glasses resting on the top of her head "Son of a bitch"

"Do I know you?" Jess asked

"No, but Miranda told me about you" Tori glance towards Miranda "Is she staying here?"

"Unfortunately" Miranda groaned "You can sleep on the couch, me and Tori have the bedroom"

"Scandalous" Jess laughed "Chill out, I was kidding" she said seeing the unamused faces of Miranda and Tori


	16. You Just Started A War

"Miranda" Tori whispered "Miranda wake up"

"What?" she groaned her eyes flickering opened "If you haven't noticed I'm trying to sleep"

"I know but don't you hear that?" Tori asked "It sounds like someone's crying"

Miranda jumped to her feet slowly walking towards her door pressing her ear against it listening for the sound Tori was so sure she heard.

"I think it's Jess"

"Why is she crying?"

"I have no clue" Miranda said turning back to her bed

"You're not gonna go check on her?"

"I'm not really interested in comforting her, her favorite past time last year was torturing me"

"People attack others sometimes, because inside their in pain"

"I really don't like you when you're right" Miranda moaned walking back to the door tiptoeing to the living room "Jess?"

"What do you want?" She asked harshly

"I heard you crying, are you okay?"

"Are you stalking me? God I knew I shouldn't have come here"

"Jess, can you do me a favor stop being a bitch for one minute and let someone in. Tell someone what you're going through believe it or not I might be able to help"

"Really?" Jess asked wiping her tears "You can help me deal with being a teen mom?"

"Your?"

"Knocked up, yea don't act to surprised you've told me on multiple occasions that I'm a slut"

"Jess, I didn't mean it, I" Miranda stuttered struggling to find something to say

"You can stop playing nice, I know your dying of laughter on the inside, your probably the happiest you've ever been"

"Jess shut the hell up! Your Jessica freaking Kahn suck it up stop acting like a helpless child who needs your mommy to hold your hand, if anyone can do this it's you!"

Jess felt her tears increase flowing uncontrollably down her face as she grabbed Miranda pulling her into a tight hug.

"Thanks"

"My pleasure"

She heard everything from the first tear to the revelation of her problem. What was she supposed to do, should she tell, should she keep it to herself? What were you supposed to do in a situation like this?

"Hanna?" Caleb called shuffling into the hallway where Hanna was lurking "What are you doing?"

"I just thought I heard something" Hanna replied quietly moving back into her bedroom

Students filled the halls bumping into each other as they sped towards their first period classes. Miranda walked slowly Jess clinging to her left while Tori stuck to her right.

"Well if it isn't the three musketeers" Noah teased seeing the three girls stopping at Miranda's locker

"What do you want Noah?" Jess asked harshly

"To never see you again, but considering you're my sister I don't think that will be happening any time soon, Miranda can we talk?"

"No thanks, but if I feel like talking to a self-absorbed, hateful douchebag I'll give you a call" Miranda slammed her locker shut causing Tori to jump

"It's important" he begged stepping in front of her

"Noah, your idea of important is asking what the menu for lunch is"

"This doesn't concern you Jess!" Noah said loudly

"Back up" Tori warned seeing Noah taking another step forward

"Not to disappoint you but your not very intimidating" Noah said sternly

"Is there a problem?" Liam asked pushing Noah away from the girls

"Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about"

"You don't know who you're dealing with"

"No Liam _you _don't know who you're dealing with"

The bell rang one last time forcing students to travel to their separate classes.

"I'll see you after history?" Miranda asked Tori

"If you're lucky" she teased kissing her on the cheek "Adios"

"Adios" Miranda laughed "Shall we?" she asked looking towards Jess

"You actually want to be seen walking into class with me? A self-proclaimed bitch?"

"Well I'm also a self-proclaimed bitch so, we'd make great friends"

Jess couldn't help but smile. For the first time it seemed like she had a chance at having a real friend, someone who truly understood her someone who accepted her for who she was.

"Emily, hey" Hanna greeted her phone held tightly in her hand her legs shaking underneath her

"Han, what's up?"

"If you overheard something about my daughter would you tell me?"

"Why? Did you hear something about Amy?" Emily asked frantically

"No, not Amy"

"Who?'

"Jessica, it's just I don't know if it's my place to tell Alison"

"What did you hear?"

"I don't feel right saying it over the phone, can you meet me at the Brew after work?"

"Yea, of course. I'll see you later"

"Well this is a sight to see" Amy laughed seeing Miranda and Tori sitting with Jess "When did you three start eating lunch together?"

"When the other tables filled up and this was the only seat left" Jess lied

"Do you ever get tired of being such a bitch?"

"I don't know, do you?"

"You never change do you? In spite of everything"

"What do you mean everything?"

"Oh this is great!" Amy laughed "You haven't heard, rumor has it Connor overheard you and Liam taking about a recent one night stand. So how does it feel being the school slut?"

"Amy!" Miranda interrupted getting to her feet pushing Amy away from the table

"You're defending her? Really?"

"Yeah I'm defending her, why the hell do you care?" Miranda said loudly pushing Amy once again

"I care because I actually thought of you as a friend and yet I see you sitting here with this bitch" Amy shot back pushing Miranda

"Knock it off" Tori asked putting herself in the middle of the girls stretching her arms straight out keeping distance between Miranda and Amy

"Tori stay out of this" Miranda pleaded

"You should listen to her _Tori_" Amy said mocking Miranda's voice "Wouldn't want to mess up that nerdy little face of yours"

"Don't you dare start with her" Miranda advised pushing Tori's arms off of her and moving closer to Amy

"Why, does that bother you? So you defend the bitch and the loser but you won't defend me? I thought we were friends!"

"Shut the hell up, you have no idea what you're talking about"

"Miranda did you ever think about shutting up, you don't know what you're talking about!" Amy groaned taking another step closer to Miranda

"Will someone hit someone already!" A student from the lunchroom yelled

Amy fell back from the force of the blow falling hard onto the ground feeling the blood drip from her lip.

"Damn that freaking hurt" Tori admitted shaking her hand in front of her

"We should go, now!" Miranda said quickly grabbing Tori's hand and running from the lunchroom Jess following closely behind "You shouldn't have done that" she said once they were in the confines of the bathroom

"Why she was getting on my nerves"

"You just started a war, and Amy Fields never back down. Trust me" Jess explained

Hanna sat alone holding her coffee anxiously in her hand feeling the hot liquid shake inside the cup.

"Hanna" Emily said sitting down quickly next to her friend

"Did you want a drink?" she asked trying to delay the conversation

"I know you're distracting me that tactic hasn't worked since freshman year, what did you need to tell me?"

"Emily, Jessica Kahn is pregnant"


	17. Living in the Past

Silence fell over the Brew as the last remaining customers began dispersing, leaving only Hanna and Emily sitting staring into each other's eyes not speaking a word. Emily couldn't believe what she had heard, or at least she didn't want to hear it, her hands resting on her neck as her mind processed the idea.

"It can't be true, Jessica's definitely not the perfect child, but" Emily began

"That's an understatement"

"Hanna!"

"What? She stared three different fights with Miranda last year, she's just like Ali" Hanna explained

"Classic Hanna, is it so hard for you to believe that Ali's changed? Can't you just let go of the past?"

"Let go of the past? Emily do you remember what we went through in high school? Do you remember what Ali got us into!"

"I haven't forgotten Hanna, I remember every time I see myself in the mirror, every time I see you or Spencer, or Paige, every time I pass that freaking book store that always has Aria's book in the front window, I remember every single day!" Emily said angrily rising to her feet "It was nice talking to you" Emily said only half serious

"Emily, wait!" Hanna pleaded watching as Emily stormed from the Brew "Damn it!"

"Trouble in paradise?"

"You've got to be kidding me" Hanna said to herself hearing the voice "Mona?"

"Hello Lady H, how's it going?"

"Mona, when did you get back to Rosewood?"

"Miranda didn't tell you?" Mona asked somewhat surprised sitting beside Hanna "Miranda and my daughter Victoria have been spending a lot of time together ever since we moved back to town. They've became good friends, I suppose history is repeating itself" Mona smiled taking a small sip of her coffee

"I hope not"

"Hanna are you seriously still holding a grudge?" Mona asked her face suddenly looking miserable

"Do you blame me?"

"No, I don't after everything I have done to you I don't blame you for holding a grudge, but all I know is if the roles were reversed I would forgive you"

"If I'm being honest am not holding a grudge against you, I'm holding one against Ali for what she made you do, for what she made you become"

"Hanna, Ali didn't make me do anything. I chose to become A" it was the first time she had said it in years, the first time she talked about being A

"You're not helping you cause" Hanna laughed

"Sorry to break up you get together, but were closing" The manager said waiting for the moment he could politely but quickly shove them out the door

The wind blew violently sending shivers up and down Hanna's back, as she searched her pockets for her keys.

"It was nice seeing you Han" Mona smiled

"You too maybe we can meet up another time, I'd like to meet Victoria" Hanna suggested

"That would be great" Mona said excitedly "Later this week we could have a Rivers, Vanderwall family dinner"

"I can't promise that Caleb will be there but it sounds like fun"

"Okay, I'll see you later" Mona grinned "Bye"

"Bye Mona"

"Finally" Miranda said loudly seeing her mother walking through the front door "I'm starving!"

"Why didn't you go out with your dad and Connor?"

"They went to The Sausage King, the closest thing they have to a vegetable is a paper plate" Miranda complained laying back down on the couch "Where were you anyway?"

"The Brew, I was having coffee with some old friends"

"Anyone I know?" Miranda asked her eyes glued to her phone

"Emily Fields and Mona Vanderwall"

"You know Mona Vanderwall?" Miranda asked her eyes moving from her phone screen to her mother

"Of course I do, she was" Hanna stopped mid sentences not wanting to travel down memory lane

"She was what?" Miranda questioned sitting up on the couch

"Nothing"

"I can tell when you're lying to me, the same way Grandma Ashley can, she taught me" Miranda smiled proud of her hidden talent

"I know you think you know what happened to me in high school cause you read Aria's book but she changed A's name to protect her, to protect Mona. Mona Vanderwall was A"

"Holy crap" Miranda said her mouth dropping wide opened "Tori's mom was A?"

"I take it Tori is Victoria, Mona's daughter"

"Yea, you met her the other day. She slept over?"

"That was Victoria? I should have known, she looked just like Mona did freshman year"

"I'm extremely confused right now Mom, why were you having coffee with her if she tormented you?"

"People change Miranda, they grow" Hanna stopped finally realizing why Emily was so pissed at the Brew "Miranda here's 20 dollars order a pizza or something I have to run out for an hour or two"

"Okay?" Miranda answered nervously taking the money from her mom

"Hanna?" Alison said shocked at the sight of the blonde girl at her door "Please come in"

"I'm sorry I came over so late" Hanna apologized stepping into the kitchen "Emily?"

"Hanna?"

"Why are you here?" Emily asked surprised to see Hanna inside Alison's house

"I came to talk to Ali about the thing"

"So did I" Emily admitted

"Would one of you mind telling me what this thing is?" Alison asked taking a seat on the stool

Hanna took a deep breath "Ali I don't know how to tell you this, but Jess"

"Oh," Alison interrupted "I already know, I have no clue how everyone seems to find these things out before me"

"You know?" Emily asked

"I found out yesterday, I'm not really sure how to react to it, but Jess hasn't made it easy especially since she ran off last night"

"That explains why she crashed on my couch"

"She was at your house and you didn't think to call me?"

"I didn't know what was going on then, I didn't know she was pregnant"

"She's not" Alison said quickly

"Ali, yes she is"

"No she's not" Alison repeated

"Ali, Hanna overheard Miranda and Jess talking about it" Emily tried to explained

"Em, were you there? Did you hear them talking about it?"

"No, but"

"But nothing" Alison yelled turning away from Emily and towards Hanna "I knew you still hated me, I knew you were still holding a stupid grudge from high school, but I didn't think you would sink so low that you would need to attack my daughter"

"Ali, I'm not trying to attack Jess, I'm trying to tell you what I heard!"

"Get out!" Ali screamed pointing Hanna to the door

"Ali please"

"Get the hell out!"

"Screw you Alison! This is what I get for trying to be your friend!" Hanna yelled her voice louder than Ali's

Emily watched as Alison threw Hanna from her house her face holding a look of complete and total anger.

"Ali, calm down"

"Calm down?" Ali repeated stunned by whose side Emily was taking "Em, you head her she's attacking my daughter because she still has it out for me!"

"Ali" Emily tried to console her reaching for her bringing her into a hug Ali's head resting perfectly in the crook of Emily neck as if it was made for her "It's going to be okay"

Ali tighter her grip on Emily as she felt Emily begin to back up. She didn't want to let go, she didn't want to ever let go. It felt natural to be in her arms, it felt like she was supposed to be in her arms.

"Room for one more?" Noel joked upon entering the kitchen

"Shut up Noel" Ali shot back

"Your comebacks use to be so much better in high school" Noel laughed "You losing your touch"

"I am not, right Em?"

"Sorry Ali, but you kind of are" Emily admitted "It's getting late I'd better run. I'll talk to you later?"

"Yea" Ali smiled her eyes following Emily as she left the house

"You won't believe who I saw today" Noel said reaching for a glass

"Who?" Ali said pretending to be interested

"Mona, apparently she's been in Rosewood for weeks now, she said she's trying to keep to herself afraid of what some people might think"

"I know what they'll think, she's a dangerous, stalker bitch"

"Ali" Noel laughed

"You disagree?"

"No, but you left out crazy"

"You dated her remember?" Ali giggled

"Oh, well I married you. Does that mean I have a type?"

"Jerk!" Ali whined pushing Noel playfully in the bicep

"I was right, you're definitely losing your touch"


	18. Your Secret Is Safe With Me

"How much longer do you plan on hiding out here?" Miranda asked watching as Jess climbed in her window

"A few more days, things at my house are still subzero"

"You said your parents didn't know"

"They don't" Jess said dropping herself onto Miranda's bed her small overnight bag falling to the floor "I practically traded Noah my lifesavings in order for him to keep quiet about me staying here"

"Your brother's such a douchebag!" Miranda admitted joining Jess on the bed "I'm surprised actually, I always thought you were the mean one"

"Hey" Jess laughed smacking Miranda in the face with a pillow "Everyone thinks that, they always think I'm a bitch"

"But you are"

"Hey again!" Jess couldn't help but laugh once again hitting her friend with the pillow "I know I am, but I don't try to be it's just the way I was raised"

"You were raised to be a bitch?" Miranda asked ripping the pillow from Jess' hands afraid she would be hit again

"No, my mom raised me to stand up for myself to never let anyone put me down, or try and control me"

"Okay" Miranda said slowly

"Shut up, I just wish people would stop treating me like my mother, they always think were the same person"

"That sucks" Miranda frowned "It really sucks that people think you look like your mom, it sucks that people think you act to similar!"

"I sense a confession" Jess said bringing her knees to her chest

"You have to promise not to tell anyone" Miranda looked at Jess desperately

"Of course" Jess replied sticking out her pinky "Pinky promise" she smiled

"Hanna's not my mom, she's my stepmom"

She sat alone, her head resting on the cold window as she watched the moon shine down on the woods cutting like a knife through the darkness. It wasn't the same without her here, she couldn't handle not seeing her every day, not talking to her. She tried so hard to act like she didn't care, like it was okay, but deep down she knew it wasn't right, she knew it was wrong. She knew she needed Emma home.

"Ella?" Aria said sweetly peeking her head into her daughter's room "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure" Ella replied nervously feeling her legs shaking underneath her weight "About what?"

"Emma"

"Is so okay?" Ella asked quickly

"Honey"

"Mom, is Emma okay?" Ella repeated

"Emma is alright" Aria said sitting beside her daughter "She's being released tomorrow"

"Really!" Ella asked excitedly

"But, I need to talk to you about it"

"Okay" Ella said slowly sensing that her mother was about to reveal important information

"When her doctor's checked up on her, they said she wasn't exhibiting the normal signs of withdrawal"

"its Emma nothing about her is normal" Ella laughed her eyes drifting back towards the moon

"Ella, please stop joking. I need you to be honest"

"Sure"

Aria cleared her throat her hands wringing together as she searched for her words "Ella, Emma was never taking Connor's meds was she"

"No, she wasn't" Ella admitted looking back towards her mother tears dripping from her eyes "I was"

"Ella, how could you let your sister lie like that!"

"I didn't ask her to! But mom please don't be mad at her she was protecting me"

"Ella, I know what she was thinking there was a time where I would do anything to protect my brother, but this is serious and extremely dangerous!"

"I know, but I'm done with it please you have to believe me"

Aria grabbed Ella's hand holding it tightly "I do believe you" She wiped a tear from her eye "You have to promise me something"

"Anything"

"Not a word of this to your father"

"You want me to lie?" Ella asked pulling her hand from her mother's "Why?"

"I trust that you're done but if your father hears he won't trust you he'll send you away" Aria explained "And I don't think I can handle both my girls having rehab on their records"

"I promise" Ella said wrapping her arms around her mother

Her heart raced as she watched her mother leave, she was in the clear. They weren't sending her away, they weren't condemning her for her mistake. She was free. Her hands shook violently as she ripped opened the plastic bag, she found hidden in her mother's nightstand. She wasn't addicted, she just needed one more. Maybe two.

"Jess" Liam whispered into his phone "Please call me back I have to talk to you. I'm sorry for the way I acted after Ryan talked to us, please just call me back I need to talk to you!"

He paced across his room his phone wrapped firmly in his hand, waiting for it to ring waiting for Jess to call back.

"Liam" Ryan called knocking lightly on the door "Did you want your dinner? It's getting cold?"

"I don't care about the freaking dinner!"

"Liam, calm down" She said moving quickly to her brother's side "Breathe"

"You're not my therapist! So shut the hell up!"

"Liam you need to listen to me, breathe, feel the anger leaving your body, breathe"

Liam fell to his knees dropping his head in defeat tears streaming down his face. He lost his breathe as his cries became louder, his mind drowning with all the thoughts he wished so desperately he could forget.

"I can't do this" he muttered between his cries "I can't be a father, I'm 17!"

"Liam you can do this, you're strong and smart and you've got the biggest heart!" Ryan rubbed his back gently "If I could be a mother at 15, you could be a father at 17"

"What!" Liam said shocked by his sister's revelation

Her lungs felt as if they were going to burst as she continued running down the dark street, running so fast it seemed like her life depended on it. Beats of sweat trickled down her face as she rounded the corner her final destination coming into her sight.

"Amy?"

"What the hell do you want Connor?" Amy asked seeing the young boy sitting on his front porch

"I want to talk to you" He said walking to the end of his driveway to meet her

"What makes you think I want to talk to you?" Amy teased stopping in front of him

"So, you don't want to know what I really overheard from Jess and Liam"

"You told me they had a one night stand"

"They didn't but there's more" Connor said drawing Amy's attention

"Tell me!" Amy begged

"I may need some _encouragement_ first"

"Eww, if you think I'm gonna do that with you your insane"

"Jesus Christ Amy get your head out of the gutter! I meant money"

Amy reached into her pocket pulling out a crinkled bill "All I have is a 20"

"Works for me" Connor grinned snatching the bill from the older girl "From what I overheard it seems like Liam and Jess have created a permanent reminder of their one night stand"

"Which means?" Amy asked confused

"Bloody Hell, I thought you were smart! Jessica's pregnant!"

"Pregnant!" Amy repeated


	19. What Did I Miss?

She still didn't believe what Connor had just told her. Pregnant! There was no freaking way that was true. But then again it could be.

"Are you sure? How do I know you're telling the truth" Amy asked

"I have proof, if you want it" Connor said stretching his hand out "But I'm going to need more _encouragement_"

"I only had the twenty, please just tell me what you know" Amy pleaded

"No I'm good" Connor smiled turning his back on Amy

"Please!" Amy begged once again running in front of Connor "I'll get you more money!"

"I don't understand, Hanna's not your mom?" Jess said shaking her head

"That's how I felt when I found out"

"When did you find out?" Jess asked

"Last month of summer" Miranda admitted "I found old letter's in my dad's office, letters from someone who wasn't my mom"

Miranda heard a soft knock on the window causing her to jump surprised to see the face lingering outside.

"Tori?"

"Hey, hey" She smiled climbing inside the window

"Why the hell are you here?" Miranda asked looking at Tori

"Jess called me, she said you needed someone to talk to" Tori explained

"Jess!" Miranda said angrily

"Miranda we both know you don't really want to tell me about this, but you do need to tell someone"

"Mira, talk to me what's wrong?" Tori asked grabbing Miranda's hand guiding her over to the bed "Tell me what's on your mind"

"It's my mom" Miranda began her eyes filling with tears "I found out the last month of summer that Hanna isn't my biological mother, my real mother was a woman named Miranda Collins, one of my dad's old friends" Tori wiped a tear from Miranda's cheek giving her an encouraging grin

"Keep going, its okay"

"There were letters from Miranda to my Dad saying that she was pregnant and it was his, saying things like she didn't want me, saying she was going to take care of it" Her tears began streaming faster "She didn't want me!" she cried louder dropping her head onto Tori's shoulder

"Mira listen to me, she was scared and alone she didn't know how to be a mother. It's a normal response to something like that" Tori explained her hand running along Miranda's back

"Miranda listen to her, just because she said she didn't want you doesn't mean it was true" Jess added joining the pair on the bed "Trust me, I've said that at least a hundred times"

"You're not making it better!" Miranda whined

"No one can make it better but you!" Tori said calmly "If you want to understand what you mom was thinking you have to find her"

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" Miranda asked lifting her head from Tori's shoulder

"I'll help you find her, and I'm sure Jess will to" Tori said glancing over at Jess

"Of course I will, after everything you two have done to help me I owe you" She smiled "We'll find her Miranda and we'll force her to tell us why she let you go"

The sun rose shining brightly through the window causing the three girls to stir from their sleep.

"Miranda!" Hanna called "Time to get up" She reached her hand gripping the door knob "Why is this door locked?"

"I'm getting dressed and I'd rather you not walk in on me that's why" She lied rubbing her tired eyes "Tori" She whispered quietly attempting to wake her "Oh Victoria, time for school"

"Why are you whispering?" Tori asked her voice almost inaudible

"Because my mom is outside the door and if she hears me talking to someone she'll think I have a boy over"

"News flash" Tori laughed "I'm not a boy"

"No difference, if she walked in on us cuddling you wouldn't be allowed to sleep over anymore" Miranda explained

"I wasn't allowed to sleep over this time you know" Tori smiled kissing Miranda swiftly "I snuck out, you're a very bad influence on me" She laughed giving her another quick peck on the lips

"I guess you should stop hanging out with me" Miranda suggested

"I don't think I can do that" She smiled tucking a piece of hair behind Miranda's ear "Your kind of irresistible"

"I've noticed" Miranda laughed her hand intertwining with Tori's

"Can you cool it with the longing glancing and flirting, it's only 6 in the morning and I feel sick" Jess joked looking at the two

"Are you sure it's not morning sickness, I mean you are pregnant" Miranda shot back "Or was that a lie to get attention" she joked swinging her legs out of bed

"You're a bitch!" Jess whined smacking Miranda on the arm "Have I told you that recently?"

"Almost every day, now can you get your last ass out of bed were going to be late for school"

"Question" Tori said raising her hand "How do we get out without your parents seeing?"

"Same way you got in, the window" Miranda grinned pointing towards the large window

"I can't climb out the window, I'm pregnant!" Jess said

"So I've heard, but you still have to use the window"

"I love this song!" Tori yelled turning up the radio as they began their journey to school

"Is she always like this?" Jess asked her eyes glued to the rearview mirror watching Tori sway to the music in the back seat

"Like what?" Miranda asked holding back her laughter

"I don't know? Drunk without actually being drunk"

"Not drunk" Miranda explained "She's high"

"High on life" Tori and Miranda said together

"You guys are too cute" Jess laughed "To cute it makes me sick" she said pretending to get sick

"Look whose back" Tori observed looking outside watching as Emma got out of her car ignoring Jess's imitation of barfing "Guess she's back from" Tori paused "Where did you say she was going again?"

"Ella told me she went to see her Grandmother or something" Miranda answered pulling her car into her usual parking spot in front of the garden "Shall we?" she said getting out of the car slamming her door shut before turning to Tori outstretching her hand

"I told you we need to stop hanging out, you're a bad influence on me" Tori smiled hiding her hands behind her back

"You need some bad in your life, hate to break it to you but you're a bit of a goody-two-shoes" Miranda laughed wrapping her hands around Tori's waist

"Really you two, I'm getting nausea" Jess whined closing her door her eyes falling on the two girls standing in front of the car

"My bad" Miranda smiled taking Tori's hand in hers "Let's go, school is awaiting"

"How fun" Tori groaned her grip tightening around Miranda's

She waited nervously by her locker, waiting to see her best friend for the first time in what felt like a week, waiting for the moment when she would need to hide from the douchebag known as Noah Kahn.

"Miranda" Emma said excitedly seeing her friend approaching the locker

"Emma!" Miranda smiled releasing Tori's hand from her grip throwing her arms around Emma "Jesus, I missed you! You're never allowed to leave again, you've missed so much"

"I see that" She muttered her eyes falling upon Jess and Tori "Why are you hanging out with the bitch and my cousin?" she whispered hoping they didn't hear her

"Don't call Jess that, she's going through a lot right now"

"Holy shit, what the hell did I miss" Emma laughed "Your gonna have to catch me up tonight"

"Tonight?" Miranda said confused

"Our Friday night movie marathon?"

"Crap, today's Friday?" Miranda began "We can't do a movie night tonight I already have plans"

"With who?" Emma asked slightly annoyed

"Tori"

"Tori" repeated raising her voice "You're seriously hanging out with my cousin over me, your best friend?"

"Emma, calm the hell down! My mom and her mom were friends in high school and they wanted to have a family dinner" Miranda explained "What's wrong with me hanging out with Tori?"

"She's not your friend, I am"

"Screw you Emma" Miranda whined walking back towards Tori grabbing her hand "You don't understand anything that's going on!"

Emma watched as Miranda stormed off Tori and Jess clinging to her sides.

"What the hell!"

"Confused?" Amy said coming up from behind Emma

"Completely" Emma admitted

"Well, I could help you" She smiled leaning her body against the locker "I've got a lot of the answers you're looking for"


	20. Count Me In

"Miranda, you need to go talk to her" Tri suggested jumping onto the bathroom sink "You need to understand she's been gone and she's missed a lot

"You're 15 why the hell are you so freaking smart?" Leaning her head on the wall

"It's in my blood" She smiled admiring her reflection in the mirror "So, are you gonna talk to her or what?"

Miranda rolled her eyes as she moved towards Tori. Her hands finding their way to Tori's resting on top of each other's her eyes locked on the chocolate brown ones that sat before her.

"Do you ever get sick of being right all the time?" Miranda asked her lips moving closer to Tori's

"Do you ever get sick of being wrong all the time?" Tori laughed her giggles cutoff by Miranda pushing their lips together

"So I did miss a lot"

She turned to the sound of the familiar voice, seeing Emma standing in the doorway her arms crossed over her chest her eyes locked on the pair.

"Thanks for keeping me in the loop Miranda" Emma whined storming from the bathroom

"Damn it!" Miranda yelled kicking the wall "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" she repeated releasing all the anger she had bottled up

Amy sat on the top of her desk her bag strapped to her back as she whispered quietly in her phone.

"Amy?" Emma said approaching the brunette "I'm in"

"I thought you would be" She smiled back "Meet me at my house after school"

"Okay" Emma turned to leave "Amy, how bad is the disc?"

"I'll put it this way there's stuff on there that will bring all of us down" Amy slide off the desk "Even Miranda's new friend"

Whispers began spreading through the school, whispers revolving around Jess, Liam, Noah, Emma. Whispers containing secrets and lies, secrets and lies someone was desperate to keep quiet.

"Jess" Noah whispered pulling Jess into an empty hallway "Where the hell is he?"

"Oh are we on speaking terms again?" Jess asked trying to move past her brother

"Where's Liam?" Noah questioned angrily

"Why would I know? I haven't spoken with him in days, and really I don't care enough to reach out to him"

"How could you not care!" Noah yelled "After what he sent around the school!"

"What the hell are you taking about?"

Noah passed Jess his phone "He sent this video to everyone!"

"Oh my god!" She cried in horror watching as the video began playing

It was her. Her and Liam at the party that held so many memories, that caused so many problems. How did Liam get this video? Why did Liam send this out? What was he trying to do?

"How many people have seen this?" She asked holding back her tears

"Probably the entire freaking school!" Noah yelled "Did you know? Did you know someone was taping you two making out?"

"Of course I didn't know!" Jess screamed throwing Noah's phone onto the floor storming from the hallway in search of the only people she felt like she could trust

Her phone rang vibrating on the desk top causing it to shake. She grabbed it quickly turning it off before she was caught using it in class

"Holy Shit!" she yelled causing all eyes to move towards her

"Ms. Rivers?"

"Sorry Mrs. Shepherd, I just really need to go" She said getting to her feet

"Miranda, you can't leave class without a legitimate excuse"

"I don't want to be here anymore, is that legitimate enough?" Miranda said loudly speeding from the classroom

He hid his face behind the screen, his finger typing rapidly on the keyboard. It had worked, his perfect plan and soon he would have everything that he wanted.

"Hello my little genius" Amy greeted taking a seat next to Connor in the empty classroom

"Why hello there Amy, did Emma agree?"

"Yea, once she saw that Miranda had replaced her she was so pissed she was practically begging me to show her the videos"

"Good, once we have her one board we can really take that bitch down" Connor said his devilish smiled never fading

"Jess" Miranda called finding Jess sitting alone in the quiet library

"Go away" She asked wiping the tears from her eyes

"No way in hell, your stuck with me" Miranda said sitting next to her

"I'm guessing you saw the video?"

"Yea, you don't really think Liam would send that around the school right"

"I have no clue, last time I spoke with him he freaked out on me" Jess began to explain "But I don't think he would do this" she said dropping her head to the table her cries growing louder

"Jess, it's not that bad all the video is, is just you and Liam kissing that's all"

"That's all? Everyone knows who just kissing at a party means, and soon there gonna put two and two together and I'm gonna be sent away to some school for pregnant teens"

"I won't let that happen Jess, no one is gonna find out or send you away, not yet at least. I mean come on we just got to friend status" Miranda laughed

"Whatever" Jess replied holding back her own laughs "I can't face anyone do you think we could skip the rest of the day?"

"Skip school?" Miranda grinned "You don't have to ask me twice, should I text Tori?"

"Yea, I like hanging out with you two"

"Really" Miranda asked shocked

"I swear if that leaves this room I'll deny it till the day I die"

"Oh my god Jessica Kahn likes hanging out with Miranda Rivers"

"Oh my god, Miranda Rivers is a huge bitch" Jess laughed getting to her feet "Are you texting Tori or not cause I need to leave before anyone sees me"

"I'm going, I'm going"


	21. Hacked

"I said it twice and I'll say it again, you're a bad influence on me" Tori laughed jumping into the back seat of Miranda's car quickly buckling up

"This wasn't my idea, it was Jess' she wanted to skip"

"Yea, blame it on the pregnant girl" Jess whined grabbing sunglasses from her purse

"Oh shut up, you can't always use that as an excuse" Miranda giggled starting her car pulling it swiftly from its parking space

"I can and I will"

"You know you can only use that as an excuse for eight more months" Tori admitted "Once you give birth you're in for a rude awaking"

"I friggin hate you two" Jess laughed laying her head on the window "Where are we going anyway the malls in the other direction"

"Were going to my house, my mom's at work and so is my dad. I figured you'd want to stay in considering how many people say that video"

"Video?" Tori asked "What video"

"You didn't see it?" Miranda questioned surprised thinking that everyone from school had seen it

"No, I didn't" Tori pulled out her bag unzipping it quickly reaching for the laptop she had tucked away inside "Miranda give me your phone"

"Why?" She asked passing her phone back

"I can't try and track where the message came from"

"Oh right I forgot you were dating a super genius" Jess laughed her eyes blocked by her sunglasses her head still resting on the cool window watching as the trees flew by the car

"Please I'm not a super genius" Miranda began "Genius maybe but not super genius" Miranda joked

"I'd beg to differ" Tori said plugging Miranda's phone into her laptop "Okay, I've got it. That's weird"

"What?" Jess and Miranda asked in unison

"It wasn't sent from Liam's phone"

"Tori, I got the message it was Liam's number"

"Miranda you don't understand someone hacked his phone from a remote location, they hacked his phone and sent the message, but it looks like it was only sent to you Jess and Noah"

"Why would someone do that?" Jess asked lifting her head from the window as the car pulled into Miranda's driveway

"Someone's going through a lot of trouble to bring you down" Tori said closing her laptop "Both of you" she said slowly reading her phone as a message came through

"What do you mean both of us?" Miranda asked climbing out of the car making her way to the front door "I wasn't even in the video"

"It's not the video I'm talking about" Tori said passing Miranda her phone

"What the hell?"

"What is it?" Jess asked following the two girls inside

"Clue Ali in and I'll let Miranda out" Miranda read out loud "Let me out of what?" Miranda asked confused

"This" Jess said grabbing the yellow envelope that was sitting on the front porch "It's a police report"

"Damn it" Miranda whispered to herself

"You have a police report?" Tori asked worried about where the conversation was headed

"Can we talk about this inside please" Miranda begged quickly unlocking the door shuffling the girls inside

"I'll ask you again, do you have a police report?"

"Tori it's nothing major, I got caught shoplifting at the beginning of summer. And my dad"

"Your dad what?" Jess asked taking a seat on the couch

"My dad paid him off. The cop who arrested me, he paid him to "forget" about the whole thing"

"Holy Shit" Tori muttered "I still don't get it what does this mean?"

"It means I have to tell my mom that I'm pregnant or Miranda's police report goes viral"

She paced quickly waiting for her visitor to arrive, waiting for the discussion start, waiting to see her reactions to the videos.

"Amy" Emily called walking into her daughter's room "You have a visitor"

"Thanks Mom" Amy grinned getting up from her chair almost running towards the front door "Hey Em"

"Hi Amy" Emma greeted entering the house "Hello Mrs. Fields how are you today?"

"I'm good thank you for asking, are you planning on sleeping over?"

"Yes she is" Amy answered quickly "Were gonna watch a movie is that okay?"

"That's fine, not to loud" Emily smiled

Amy moved back to her room rapidly making Emma jump as she slammed her bedroom door.

"So where's this disc?" Emma asked looking around the room

"Here" Amy replied the disc gripped in her hand "Are you sure you want to see this?"

"Positive"

Amy put the disc into her laptop watching as the screen began showing the videos that someone wanted so badly to hide. The videos that involved everyone from Liam Cavanagh to Victoria Montgomery. The videos that threatened to break everyone down, threatened to tear families apart, and threatened to dig up the past.


	22. To Tell Or Not To Tell

_**Question (answer in reviews): Best and Worst character(s) so far?**_

"How do you have these?" Emma asked slamming the laptop closed "Who took these videos?"

"A friend of mine"

"Amy, I'm in these videos, my parents are in these videos, who the hell took them?"

"A friend of mine" Amy repeated "A friend who's traded me all these secrets for my help, I bet he'll make the same deal with you"

"Why do I need to know these secrets?" Emma asked not following what Amy was trying to say

"There gonna help bring someone down" Amy grinned "Someone who's hurt us, and who's hurt the one's we love"

"I don't know if I can do this"

"Why? Don't you want to get a certain someone out of Miranda's life? You have to admit she's been completely different since they became friends"

"Amy, I can't do this!" Emma said moving towards the door

"I don't think you understand Emma, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you"

"Who do you think you are?" Emma said angrily desperately trying to escape the room

"I'm your worst nightmare, you don't have a choice your gonna help us" Amy demanded pulling her phone out of her pocket "Unless you want your parents to send your sister away"

"How the hell did you get this?" Emma asked her eyes glued to the video playing in front of her

"Like I said a friend of mine gave it to me"

"What do you need me to do?" Emma asked throwing Amy's phone onto her bed

"This is some sick joke right?" Jess asked as she played nervously with her hair

"I don't know what to think" Tori admitted dropping herself next to Miranda leaning her head on Miranda's shoulder

"I think we should be getting ready for that dinner we have tonight" Miranda said taking Tori's hand in hers "We don't want to be late"

"You still want to go to that? After everything that's happened" Tori asked resting her feet on the coffee table

"I think we have to, if we don't our parents will definitely know something's up" Miranda explained "We can deal with this when we get home" she said picking up the yellow envelope

"Okay, whatever" Tori replied "Do I look okay?" She asked getting to her feet

"I don't know, spin please" Miranda smiled

"Well?"

"Spin again, slower this time" Miranda requested

"Well" Tori repeated

"One more time, but slower"

"Tori, you do know she's staring at your ass each time you spin right?" Jess laughed

"Miranda!" Tori yelled smacking her arm "But really do I look dressy enough for dinner?"

"You look great" Miranda smiled kissing her on the cheek "Give me a minute to change my shirt"

"Are you gonna tell your mom?" Tori asked sitting back down

"I don't know, I can't have someone tear Miranda down just because I'm scared to tell my mom something that's she's bound to find out"

"I'm here if you need me" Tori smiled

"Okay Ms. Montgomery, let's roll!" Miranda called strolling out from her room "Jess do you want to tag along?"

"No, I'm gonna stay here if that's alright"

"Yea, no problem we'll hang out when we get back" Miranda promised giving Jess once last smile before leaving the house

"Hey Mom" Jess said her voice cracking due to all her nerves "Can you met me at the Grille I _really_ need to tell you something"

"Mom!" Tori called bursting into her house "I'm home"

"Oh hey" Mona smiled seeing the pair enter the house "Miranda good to see you"

"You to Ms. Vanderwall"

"Please call me Mona, Ms. Vanderwall makes me sound like an old woman"

"My mom is gonna be here in a few minutes she's on her way from work"

"No problem, I'm just putting the finishing touches on dinner"

"Do you need any help?" Miranda asked politely

"You and Victoria can set the table" Mona smiled showing them towards the cupboard that help the dinner dishes

Miranda and Tori grabbed the plates setting the table quickly each ready to get this dinner over with so they could return to their friend who was waiting alone.

"Hanna" Mona smiled opening the door to see her old friend "Come in"

"Damn! Your house is nice" Hanna admitted making her way to the dining room

"I try" Mona laughed gesturing Hanna to her seat at the table

The night was relatively normal, the dinner filled with awkward small talk, stories from the past and the ignoring the elephant in the room. Anything and everything that had to do with Mona being A

"So when did you two start hanging out?" Hanna asked looking at the two girls sitting across from her

"I met Tori, the second day of high school" Miranda said as more of a question than answer

"It was the third day, you idiot" Tori laughed tapping Miranda's nose

"Are you close?" Hanna questioned

"Pretty close" Miranda smiled reaching for Tori's hand under the table

"That's good" Mona said "Me and Hanna use to be pretty close"

"Were you?" Tori asked

"Of course we hung out all the time, do you remember how much fun we had the summer before junior year"

"And some of it was even legal" Hanna laughed

"Jessica thank god" Alison said rushing to the table where her daughter sat holding back her tears "Where have you been? Have you been staying at the Rivers? Why didn't you call me?"

"Mom slow down" Jess begged "Before you get mad at Miranda or her mother I need to tell you something"

"Anything, honey" She smiled rubbing Jess shoulder lightly

"I'm pregnant"


	23. Forever Isn't As Long Anymore

"Jess, you can tell me anything"

"I'm pregnant, I'm pregnant!"

Why was it so hard to say the words out loud? Why couldn't she bring herself to say it? Why were the words stuck in her throat refusing to come out?

"Jess?" Alison said cautiously sensing her daughter's nerves "What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"I'm…" she stuttered feeling the words once again stuck in her throat "I missed you"

"Oh honey I missed you to" Alison smiled embracing her daughter in her arms "Please come home, your father and I aren't mad, we just want to know that you're okay"

"I'm okay now" She cried her face buried deep in her mother's shoulder

"So Liam, how have you been?"

"Fine" Liam answered angrily holding the pillow tightly to his chest his feet resting comfortably on the couch

"How are things at home?"

"Fine"

"Liam you have to level with me" She explained dropping her clipboard onto the coffee table "If we want to understand why you're so angry, we need to talk about what's going on in your life"

"There's nothing going on in my life that's making me angry"

"I know your lying Liam" She said firmly "What is making you so angry?"

"My parents!" Liam yelled loudly "They think they can control everything I do, they think they can tell me what to be!"

"What do they want you to be?"

"They want me to be just like them, my father wants me to be a cop, and my mother wants me to be a lawyer"

"And what do you want to be?"

His head fell into his hands "I have no freaking clue! I just want to be me" he whined

"Hey Miranda it's me" Emma began lying down on her bed "I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted the other day, I was pissed that you were hanging out with someone who wasn't me. Yea, yea I know it's stupid, but what can I say I missed you when I was….away. So please just call me back"

She hid herself under the blanket surrounded by the darkness hoping to forget about her many problems.

"Emma" Aria said sweetly entering her daughters room "Why are you in bed?"

"I'm freaking tired that's why!"

"Okay there's no need for you to get snappy" Aria said pulling the blanket from Emma's grip "Someone's here for you, there waiting downstairs"

"I don't want to talk to anyone, I'm tired" Emma lied

"Alright, I'll tell Miranda to come back later"

"Miranda's here!" Emma asked excitedly jumping to her feet and rushing down the stairs "Hi"

"Hey" She greeted quietly "Can we talk outside?"

"Sure" Emma smiled hoping Miranda was about to forgive her

"What the hell is this?" Miranda asked taking a seat on the swing

"An envelope"

"Cut the smart ass crap, what the hell is this?"

Emma grabbed the yellow envelope reaching for the paper inside. "A police report"

"No shit" Miranda whined stuffing the paper back inside the envelope "You were the only one who knew about it, who else did you tell?"

"I didn't" Emma lied as she shifted nervously on the swing

"You're lying to me? When the hell did it become so easier for you to lie to your friends?" Miranda yelled getting to her feet quickly moving towards the driveway

"So were friends now?"

"We've always been friends Emma! Just because I have another special person in my life doesn't mean there's not room for both of you"

"Screw you Miranda!" Emma groaned "Why do you have to do that?"

"Do what!"

"Why do you have to be so nice to me when I'm being such a bitch!" Emma yelled leaning her body against Miranda's car

"You're not being a bitch, your being stubborn. Do you know who put this police report on my front porch or not?"

"Yes" Emma answered slowly "I did"

"You did?"

"I didn't know what was inside, I promise. Amy told me I had to"

"Amy? Amy told you to do it?"

"Yes"

"Why?" Miranda asked angrily crossing her arms over her chest "Why would you threaten me were supposed to be best friends"

"We are, Miranda I had to do it she was threatening my family to" Emma explained "You _have_ to understand I was protecting my family"

"Shut the hell up!" Miranda demanded "I don't understand how it was so freaking easy for you to sell me out!"

"Miranda please" Emma begged tears forming in her eyes

"I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to know you!" Miranda screamed ripping the bracelet from her wrist "I hate you!"

"Miranda!" Emma called watching her former best friend jump quickly into her car and drive off without a second look

She got to her knees grabbing the bracelet that rested on the driveway. Her eyes scanned it remembering the day she had given Miranda the bracelet.

_Flashback _

"_Miranda" Emma laughed running through her house in search of her friend "I'm gonna find you" _

_ Miranda hid under the bed covering her mouth hoping to cover up her giggling knowing that any minute Emma would find her. _

"_Got you!" She laughed crouching under the bed pointing to Miranda "You always hide there" _

"_No fair, you heard me laughing" Miranda explained climbing out from her hiding spot _

"_Whatever, you're just mad cause I won. Again!" Emma smiled skipping over to her desk "Besides I have something for you" _

"_What is it?" Miranda asked excitedly reaching for the small box _

"_Open it" _

"_A bracelet! It looks just like yours" She grinned pulling the bracelet from the gift box _

"_Except yours says Miranda, and mine says Emma. As long as we wear these we'll always be best friends" Emma smiled proudly helping Miranda put her new bracelet on _

"_I love it!" Miranda admitted "Thank you so much Emmy"_

"_Anything for you Miranda!" _

"_Best friends forever?" Miranda asked _

"_Forever!" Emma repeated hugging Miranda tightly around the waist _

"So much for forever!" Emma complained shuffling back inside tears still falling from her eyes

Her hand banged rapidly on the front door desperately waiting to get inside.

"Miranda, good to see you" Mona greeted

"Hi Mona is Tori home?" She asked quickly moving inside

"She's in her room. Is everything okay?"

"Perfect" Miranda lied bursting into Tori's room

"Miranda! Holy crap you almost gave me a heart attack" Tori said turning her attention to Miranda

"I know who sent it!" She admitted almost out of breathe "I know who sent the police report, and the video"

"So do I"

"You do?" Miranda asked taking a seat on top of Tori's desk "How?"

"I was working to see who hacked Liam's phone and I came up with a number, but it was a number to a burner phone so I had to"

"English please" Miranda cut her off trying to follow the rapid conversation "I'm not as smart as you"

"Basically I had to do a lot of hacking until I found a usable number. A number that traced back to"

"Amy Fields" Miranda interrupted

"No" Tori said "Connor Rivers"

"Connor?" Miranda asked shocked "As in my little brother Connor?"

"Yeah"

"You're telling me my little brother Connor is helping Amy and Emma blackmail us?"

"Amy and Emma are in on this to?"

"What the hell are they trying to accomplish?"

"Son of a bitch!" Tori yelled getting to her feet "I know what they're doing!"

"What?" Miranda asked watching Tori pace across her room "Tori, what are they doing?"


	24. Running

"How was your appointment?" Spencer asked as she poured herself a large cup of coffee

"It was crappy" Liam whined stealing his mother's drink "I hate going there"

"I know you hate it" Spencer said taking her cup back "But it helps you to control your anger"

"Whatever"

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket flashing as seven new messages came flying in.

"Who's texting you?" Ryan asked sneaking up behind Liam "Is it your girlfriend" she laughed opening the fridge

"I don't have a girlfriend"

"Oh right I forgot you don't have a girlfriend just a baby mamma"

"Excuse me?" Spencer asked

"Shit" Ryan whispered to herself

"Liam!" Spencer said firmly "Please tell me this is a joke"

"Mom I have something to tell you" Liam admitted lowering his eyes to the floor

The house felt different now that she was back, it was almost as if you could feel the tension building waiting until it boiled over. He could hear the whispers from behind the closed door. She was telling them, she was finally telling them. Now all the lies it could stop, everything was gonna go back to normal. At least that's what he hoped.

"Noah" Noel called opening the study door "Can you come in here please"

"Of course" Noah replied slowly stepping into the room taking a seat next to his mother who was already in tears "What's going on?"

"Noah, we need to tell you something" Alison muttered wiping her tears her eyes falling on her husband whose face only held complete anger "Jessica is…."

"I'm pregnant" She interrupted her face hidden by her hands "I'm freaking knocked up! I'm with child! I'm a teen mom!"

"Jess, calm down" Noah said rushing to his sister's side acting as if this information was new to him "its okay, I'm here for you, were all here for you"

"Liam" Toby said sitting on the couch in disbelief "Liam!"

"You don't have to say anything, I know my future is screwed. I know my life is completely ruined and I have no chance at becoming successful"

"Liam, do you think that's what were worried about?" Spencer asked almost hurt "It's not just you that we have to worry about now it's your kid and your kids mother"

"Speaking of" Toby interrupted "Who's the girl?"

"Jessica Kahn"

"Holy Shit!" Spencer yelled "You're kidding me right?"

"I'm sorry" Liam apologized sensing his Mother's anger beginning to rise

"You got my friend's daughter pregnant!" She yelled so loudly it felt as though the house shook

"I'm sorry" He repeated

"Get in the car, NOW!" Spencer demanded grabbing the car keys "Were going to the Kahn's"

"Should I get the door?" Noah asked hearing the doorbell

"Sure" Ali said quietly

"Mrs. and Mr. Cavanagh" Noah said as he saw the family standing in the doorway "How can I help you?"

"Are you parents' home?" Toby asked

"There in the study" Noah answered guiding the three to the already crowded room "Mom, Dad the Cavanagh's are here"

As soon as Noel heard the name he was on his feet charging at Liam his fists clenched tightly.

"You son of a bitch! You got my daughter pregnant!" He yelled as Toby forced him to his knees

"You really don't want to mess with my kid" Toby warned "Especially when his father is a cop"

"He needs to be punished for what he did to my little girl!"

"Dad!" Jess screamed forcing all eyes on her "It's not all his fault"

"She's got a point" Liam whispered to himself

"You can't only be mad at him, we both made a decision that night and now we both have to deal with the outcome"

"The outcome?" Noel yelled "The outcome is a freaking baby! How can you take care of a baby when you can barely take care of yourself?"

"Noel please stop yelling at her" Alison begged

"Stop yelling! Stop yelling! Our daughter just told us she's pregnant! Pregnant!" Noel screamed fighting to break free from Toby's grip

"Noel you need to calm down, we have to talk about this" Spencer pleaded

"Talk about what? The fact that my 16 year old daughter got knocked up from your idiotic 17 year old?"

"Shut the hell up Noel, just shut up!" Toby advised tighten his grip on Noel's shoulders keeping him pinned to the ground

"Jess can you" Alison began stopping herself when she realized her daughter was nowhere to be seen "Jess?"

"Where the hell did she go?" Spencer said looking around the room

"Tori what are they doing?"

"Amy's controlling them, she's trying to take Jess' spot as Queen Bee"

"Your freaking kidding me" Miranda said "She's blackmailing us just to take Jess down a few pegs?"

"That's what it seems like"

"But why would she need Emma and Connor, why couldn't she do it by herself?"

"Amy is using Connor obviously because of his hacking skills, and she's using Emma because she knows all of your secrets"

"I still don't understand why they would help her"

"What's the one thing Connor would do anything for?"

"Money" Miranda answered quickly

"And Emma?"

"She's protecting her family, that's all she was doing" Miranda wiped a tear from her eye "She was protecting her family, I looked her in the eyes and told her that I hated her, all she was doing was protecting her family"

"Miranda, you can't feel bad for what you said. You thought she betrayed you, what you did was a normal response" Tori said trying to console the teary eyed girl "Jess?"

"I thought you were supposed to be smart, I'm Miranda" She joked

"No Jess, is outside my window" Tori explained opening the window to let Jess inside "What are you doing here?"

"They know" She said quickly "They all know, my parents, Liam's parents they know"

"You told them!"

"I had to, otherwise you would go down" She said looking at Miranda

"Jess, we know who sent the police report and the video" Tori said standing closely next to Miranda "It was Amy, Connor and Emma apparently there working together to"

"To what?" Jess asked nervously

"To take you down" Miranda finished

"To take me down?" Jess repeated "Cause my life isn't hard enough"

"It's fine, we can get them to stop we can think of a way to get back at them"

"Fight fire with fire?" Jess asked

"Yea"

"If we do that were gonna be the ones who gets burned, Amy never backs down. She always wins"

"She won't this time" Tori smiled "We'll get her back, I promise"

"Enough evil talk for you" Miranda laughed tapping Tori's nose "So Jess do you know what your gonna do? Are you going home?"

"Hell no" She said quickly "I was hoping you'd want to do a road trip"

"A road trip?" Miranda laughed as if it were a joke

"Yea to find your mom" Jess explained "You in?"

"Hells yea!" Miranda agreed "Tori?"

"I'll go anywhere with you" She smiled giving her a quick peck on the cheek "When do we leave?"

"Now" Jess said climbing back out the window "I kind of stole my brother's car, who wants to drive?"


	25. Were Okay

The wind blew through her hair, as the moonlight shone down on her arm that was rested outside the car. The road was empty, quiet almost as if they were the only three people alive. She watched through the rear-view as her friends danced along to the radio which blasted loudly through the speakers shaking the car as they pulled into the motel.

"No way! Jess it's this" Tori laughed dancing the robot

"I'm telling you it's this!" Miranda insisted demonstrating the running man "Jess! Who's dance is better?"

"Is that what you two were doing? You were dancing?" Jess giggled grabbing her bag from the car "I thought you were swatting a fly away"

"You're such a jerk!" Tori yelled "Mira go book a room we'll chill here" She smiled leaning against the blue Mustang

"Yeah make me do all the work"

"I'm" Jess began

"Pregnant" Miranda and Tori finished mocking their friend's voice

"You're giving me a headache" Jess whined placing her hand on her forehead

"What else is new" Miranda laughed as she made her way to the front office

"I don't care what time it is!" Alison yelled "I want to know where my daughter is!"

"Jessica Kahn, she's 16, she has blonde hair dark blue eyes" Noel explained to the cop

Noah watched as his parents frantically searched for Jess, calling person after person hoping someone had seen her. Talking to several cops begging for them to start a search party. He knew there was no way they were gonna find Jess, at least not tonight. When Jess wanted something she got it, and if she wanted to run away she would.

"Mom" Noah said tapping Alison lightly on the shoulder "Mrs. Rivers is on the phone"

"Noah, I'm already on the phone" she whispered pointing to her cell phone "Can you talk to her?"

"Hello Mrs. Rivers my mom can't come to the phone right now can I take a message?" He listened carefully taking note of everything Hanna had said "No I'm sorry she's not here, but I'll have my mom call you if she hears anything"

"What did Hanna want?" Alison asked placing her phone onto the desk

"She was looking for Miranda, apparently Mrs. Rivers and Ms. Vanderwall can't find Miranda and Tori" Noah explained

"Miranda and Tori are missing to?"

"You don't think?" Noah began

"Damn those kids! I knew they were a bad influence on Jessica!" Alison yelled once again reaching for her phone "Hanna! Where the hell is your freaking daughter!"

"This room is tiny" Jess complained stepping into the motel room

"Jess really? It's called the Sandy Shore Motel, what were you expecting The Hilton?" Miranda joked dropping onto the bed

"Question" Tori said raising her hand

"You're not in school Tori you don't need to raise your hand"

"Shut it" She laughed laying down next to Miranda "If there's only one bed who gets it?"

"This is the only time the pregnant excuse will work for you" Miranda explained getting back to her feet "You and Tori can have the bed and I'll take the chair"

"I get to cuddle up next to Tori" Jess smiled clapping her hands "All my dreams have come true"

"Wow" Miranda said slowly "I didn't know you could be anymore bitchy, but when you add sarcasm wow just wow"

"You're a bitch" Jess said desperate to keep a straight face

"And proud of it!" Miranda smiled "Damn, Tori's asleep already, you must have bored her with all you're talking"

"To bad I didn't bore you to sleep, your voice gives me migraines"

"Whatever you know you love me"

"In your dreams" Jess smiled resting her head down on the pillow

"Admit it I'm the best friend you've ever had"

"I don't know I think Tori ranks higher than you. If you haven't noticed she gives the best advice"

"Trust me I've noticed" Miranda grinned glancing at Tori's sleeping face "Okay, I'm about to pass out" Miranda yawned reaching for a blanket "Night"

"Night" Jess said watching as Miranda's eyes drifted closed

"_Liam, you may or may not have heard about me leaving. Please don't freak out! It's not forever and I promise I'll be home soon, I have some things I need to take care of. I need time to myself to see what I really want and what's best for me and my future, I know it sucks that you can't be a part of my decision and I know it's killing you not to be here with me, but I'll be home soon. I've been thinking about our movie night, when I called you a deadbeat, and I know I can't take it back but I thought I would try, I'm so sorry I called you that, I was angry and scared, but I promise you I didn't mean it there isn't any other person in the world that would make a better father than you, so thank you for just being you.-Jess" _

He reached for his phone as he heard the familiar jingle of his ringtone.

"_Jess" He whispered to himself as he read the message "Damn you Jess" _

"_Jess where the hell are you? This isn't funny, you need to come home or at least tell me where you are. What if something happens to you? How can I help you if you don't tell me where you are? How am I supposed to look after you and our baby if you've run away? Your parents need you to come home, I need you to come home, I need to know you're okay, I need to know our kid is okay. Please Jess I need to know-Liam"_

"_Were okay-Jess"_


	26. Found

She rifled through the letters quickly, looking for any clues that could lead her to her biological mother.

"Anything?" Tori asked biting into her apple

"Just a whole bunch of crap" Miranda whined throwing the letters into the small table

"You're giving up already?" Jess asked picking herself of the bed "Let me see them" She said reaching for the pile of papers "Ravenswood"

"Ravenswood?" Miranda repeated "How the hell did you figure that out?"

"Right here" Jess explained reading the letter out loud _"It's been two months, two months since I've seen you, two months since I've spoken to you, how could so much have changed in two months. It seems like the sky is darker than it usually is, it seems like the normal graveyard festivities have lost all appeal, it's seems like my entire world is changing, so fast that I can't even keep up" _

"That's poetic" Tori muttered her mouth full of apple bites "What town has parties in a graveyard?"

"Ravenswood" Miranda and Jess said together

"Does that mean were leaving?" Tori asked almost disappointed at the thought

"We are, but if you want to stay you can" Miranda laughed throwing the few things she had into a bag

"I just don't know how much I'm gonna like a town that parties in graveyards"

"It's not so bad" Jess said "That is if you don't mind ghosts"

"Ghost!" Tori yelled spitting out the apple from her mouth

"She's kidding" Miranda laughed wrapping her arms around Tori's waist "You don't need to be scared"

"I'm not scared" Tori lied

"Sure you're not" Miranda smiled kissing Tori softy on the cheek before heading out the door

Liam paced across his bedroom waiting for the new message to come through. Why hadn't she answered him? Was she okay? Had something gone wrong?

"_Jess please answer me, you haven't texted me since last night. Just tell me where you are so I can bring you home. Please Jessica come home-Liam"_

"_Liam I told you not to worry, I'm fine and I have my friends with me. We should be back in Rosewood in a few days I hope, I don't like the way we left things and I hope when I return we can work things out. I'll talk to you later-Jess"_

"God damn it" Liam whined tossing his phone onto the floor

"Someone's upset" Ryan observed leaning against the doorway "Was that Jess?"

"Who else"

"Did you find out where she is?"

"No, she won't tell me" Liam said angrily bringing his knees to his chest "She won't let me help her"

"Liam did you ever think she doesn't need your help? Maybe she just needs time to see how she really feels"

"Maybe"

"Don't worry little bro, when the time is right she'll come back"

"I guess"

She watched him worked her eyes watching as he destroyed all the videos that held her secrets.

"Is that all of them?" Amy asked nervously

"All of them" Connor said deleting the last remaining file

"Good" Amy smiled passing the younger boy a wad of cash "Now can I have the disc?"

"Here" Connor smiled "What are you planning on doing with it?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out" Amy laughed

"Whatever" Connor said closing up his computer

She drove quickly her heart pounding, her thoughts racing. She was only a few minutes away from Ravenswood. A few minutes away from possibly finding her mother, a few minutes away from finding out why her mother didn't want her.

"Are you excited?" Tori asked laying her head down on the window watching as the sky grew darker and the colors of the trees seemed to fade

"I'm not sure, I actually feel kind of sick" Miranda explained her hands gripping the wheel so tightly her fingers turned red

"Those are your nerves, don't worry you there's nothing to be nervous about"

"Really Jess, nothing?" Miranda began "Nothing to be nervous about? I'm looking for my mother, who over 16 years never once tried to contact me, never tried to find me or get to know me she never tried"

"Maybe she has a good reason" Tori suggested her eyes locking on Miranda

"There's no reason good enough for what she did"

They had arrived. The town quiet and mysterious, the sky above them gray and barren not a cloud in sight. Only a few people stood in the street each wearing the same blank look, as they watched the girls drive by.

"What the hell is this place?" Tori asked looking out the window

"This is Ravenswood" Jess answered peering into the gray sky

"It's great" Tori said sarcastically as Miranda pulled into a parking lot

"Where do we start?" Miranda asked getting out from the Mustang "I mean we don't really know anything about her"

"How about City Hall" Jess suggested pointing to the building in front of them

"Excuse me Miss" Tori said politely approaching the desk "Can you please give us some information on someone who lives here?"

"Name" The receptionist said slowly

"Miranda Collins" Tori replied

The receptionist rolled her eyes as she typed the name into the computer "If you want to find her your gonna need to go down the street and turn left" She explained pointing in the direction where the girls needed to go

"There's no listed address?" Miranda asked

"Just follow the directions you'll find her"

"Okay" Miranda said slowly leaving the building Tori and Jess not far behind her "Was I the only one who thought that was weird?"

"I guess it was kind of weird, I mean she didn't give us an address just directions"

"She said left?" Tori asked walking quickly down the road

"Yea why?"

"Cause all that's here is a cemetery" Tori explained stopping in front of the large gates

"Maybe we have to cut through" Miranda said walking in front of the girls

"Maybe" Jess replied unsure on what to think as she continued into the cemetery

"Maybe not" Tori whispered her eyes glancing at a small headstone "Miranda"

She turned hearing her name, her heart dropping into her stomach as she saw Tori's face "What?"

"I found your mom" She answered slowly backing away from the headstone

"Miranda Collins" Miranda read out loud wiping the tears from her eyes as she glanced at the dates inscribed on the headstone "She died the day I was born"


	27. Wow

The ground was cold, the early morning dew soaking into her jeans as her knees rested against the ground. Her eyes stuck on the gravestone which sat in front of her, tears dripping onto it. Jess and Tori lingering behind the broken girl not knowing what to say or what to do. They waited, waited for the right moment to step in, waited for the moment to comfort their friend, and waited for the moment for Miranda to speak.

"Selfish bitch" Miranda whispered to herself "You freaking selfish bitch!" she yelled pushing the grave with her hands

"Miranda calm down" Tori said holding her back from hitting the grave again "Just breathe"

"Get the hell off of me!" Miranda screamed shaking Tori's hands off of her "Just leave me alone!" She begged getting off of her knees running quickly from the graveyard

"Miranda!" Jess called "Miranda!"

"Son of a bitch" Tori whined "What are we supposed to do?"

"I have an idea, but you're not gonna like it"

"If it can help Miranda do it!"

"_Liam I know this may seem like a strange request but I need you to do it for me, I need you to get Mrs. Rivers to Ravenswood. Me, Tori and Miranda are here, we were searching for something and we found it, unfortunately it's not quite what we were expecting. Long story short Miranda needs her mother and I need you to get her here, please –Jess"_

"_I'm on my way!-Liam" _

His hand was hitting the door so hard it felt like his knuckles were about to fall off. Why weren't they opening the door? Where the hell were they?

"Liam?" Connor said opening the door "What do you want?"

"Is your mom here?"

"Yeah why?" Connor asked confused

"I need to talk to her" Liam demanded storming inside "Mrs. Rivers?" he called

"Yes" Hanna said walking out from the kitchen "Liam? What can I do for you?"

"I need you to come with me, it's about Miranda"

She almost dropped the glass she was holding "Do you know where she is?"

"She needs your help"

"Where the hell did she go?" Tori asked wandering around the town with Jess clinging to her side

"I have no freaking clue"

The girls walked side by side searching everywhere hoping they would find Miranda, hoping they could help her deal with this new problem.

"Is that her?" Tori asked seeing a small blonde sitting on the curb a few feet away

"Miranda!" Jess yelled walking up to the girl "Damn it" she whined covering her nose "What the hell are you drinking?"

"Just a bit of tequila" she said a faint smile growing on her face

"How did you get it?" Tori asked ripping the bottle from her hand

"I..have..my ways" she stuttered reaching for the bottle "Can, can I have it back?"

"No!" Tori yelled putting the bottle next to her as she took a seat on the curb "You can't have it back"

"I need it, please?" Miranda asked sadly pushing her bottom lip into a pout

"Why do you need it?" Jess asked curiously hoping to find out what Miranda was feeling

"Cause it helps me forget how screwed up my life is"

"Why is it screwed up?" Jess asked

"Well for starters I'll never know my real mother, my brother is trying to take down one of my friends and I told my best friend that I hated her the other day" Miranda whined "It sucks"

"You think your life sucks?" Tori asked "My father ran out on me when I was 6 months old, and plus everyone hates my mom because of her messed up past"

"That does suck" Miranda observed

"It does doesn't it" Tori said her hand wrapping around the bottle taking two large sips of tequila

"Your drinking know to?" Jess asked annoyed

"Do you want to join us?" Miranda joked "Oh right, you're pregnant" She laughed grabbing the bottle from Tori

"What the hell is going on!" Hanna yelled loudly stepping out of the truck "Is this why you ran away? So you could drink tequila at 10 in the morning?"

"I didn't run away" Miranda admitted taking a final drink from the bottle before having it ripped from her hands "I came to find my mother"

"Your mother?"

"Oh, don't act like you didn't know! You're not my mom Miranda Collins is"

"Honey" Hanna said her hands covering her mouth "How did you know that?"

"Cause I'm not an idiot! I look nothing like you"

"Yes you do" Tori interrupted "You have the same hair, and your eyes"

"I dye my hair!" Miranda confessed "Surprise I'm actually a brunette" Miranda laughed "I dye my hair so I look like my mom, so I seem like I'm her daughter. So it looks like I'm part of the family"

"Miranda, DNA doesn't make a family love does!" Hanna said tossing the bottle into a nearby garbage can "I love you more than words can describe it doesn't matter that I didn't give birth to you, I raised you and that's all that matters"

"No!" Miranda yelled struggling to get to her feet "You look at me differently, you see me different than you see Connor! Why the hell do you think I shoplift and skip school? I do it because that's the only thing I can do to get your attention!" Miranda cried "You don't understand!"

"Miranda," Hanna said holding back her tears "You don't need to steal and skip school to get me to notice you, I notice you every day. I notice your love, your caring heart, your wonderful bright mind! Your my daughter Miranda no matter what your DNA says I am and always will be your mother, whether you like it or not" Hanna grabbed her daughter bringing her into her tight embrace

"I love you Mom" Miranda cried into Hanna's shoulder

"I love you to Miranda"

"Hey Liam" Jess smiled walking over to the driver's side door

"How are you?"

"Fine" She lied

"Liar" Liam grinned leaning against the front of his car "What's on your mind?"

"My parents, your parents, school. When we go back everyone is gonna find out about me"

"Who cares what they think?"

"I do" Jess admitted "How are we gonna get through this?"

"When something bad happens you have three choices you can either let it define you, let it destroy you or let it strengthen you"

"What did you choose?" Jess asked

"The last one, I'm going to let this setback this seemingly terrible situation strengthen me"

"Why?"

"Why?" Liam repeated a smile crossing his face "Do you even have to ask? Jessica can't you tell!" Liam asked moving closer to Jess "I'm completely head over heels in love with you! I have been since the first time I set my eyes on you! I'm so in love with you that when I go a day without seeing you it hurts me it's like I can feel my heart stop beating. Jess I love you so much I can't describe it. I love everything about you! I love your ocean blue eyes that every day without fail sparkle in the sunlight, I love the way your golden hair flows down your back, I love your crooked smile your button nose. I love you Jess! I love you" He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her into his lips feeling her fingers make their way through his hair feeling as if everything in the world was finally right

"Wow" she said struggling to catch her breath "Wow"


	28. Never Let Me Go

"Wow"

She couldn't feel her lips, it was almost as if Liam's kiss had paralyzed her. Her heart beat so fast she swore everyone could hear it.

"Jess" Tori said quietly "Were going, are you riding with us or Liam?"

"Liam" She glanced at him her stomach feeling as if it was filled with butterflies "Is that okay?"

"Perfect" he smiled back opening the passenger door for her "I'll see you guys when we get back"

"Are you feeling any better?" Tori asked helping Miranda into the back seat

"A little" She whined leaning her head against the window "My head is still killing me"

"Aww poor baby" Tori smiled kissing Miranda gently on her forehead "Feel better?"

"Maybe" Miranda smirked reaching for Tori's hand

"Ready to go?" Hanna asked joining the girls in the car

"Yea" Miranda answered pulling her hand from Tori's

"Sure, let's go" Tori said sadly moving away from Miranda

They were almost home, almost back to the town that held more secrets than people. Almost back to the town where all their problems started.

"Jessica!" Alison yelled seeing the car pull up to her house "What the hell were you thinking!"

"I needed some time to think" She admitted avoiding her mother's eyes "But I'm back now so it doesn't matter"

"It does matter!" Alison screamed following her daughter inside "You can't tell us your pregnant one day than run away the next!"

"Technically I told you I was pregnant and left the same day"

"Don't you dare get smart with me!" Alison demanded slamming the front door shut

"Whatever" Jess complained dropping herself onto the couch "So go ahead, scream, yell, tell me I'm an idiot and that I've ruined my life"

"I don't want to yell at you Jess, I just want to understand why you left"

"I promised I would help Miranda and Tori with something, and I just needed" Jess tried to explain

"Miranda Rivers and Victoria Montgomery! Of course, I knew you shouldn't have started hanging out with those girls, there a terrible influence on you"

"Mom, it's not their fault, I wanted to"

"Stop!" Alison yelled "I don't want you around those girls, I don't want you talking to them, I don't want you hanging out with them, I don't want you being friends with them!"

"You can't do that!" Jess begged "There like the only friends I actually like"

"You can make new friends!"

"I hate you!" Jess cried

"Trust me you'll thank me for it later"

"Thank you for the ride, Mrs. Rivers" Tori smiled opening the car door

"I'll walk you to the door" Miranda said following Tori from the front door "I'll see you at school tomorrow" she grinned leaning in for a kiss only to be stopped by Tori's hand

"So you'll kiss me now cause your mom can't see?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the way you pulled your hand off of mine when your mom got into the car"

"Are you mad at me for that?" Miranda asked "I was just a reflex, I didn't tell my mom yet and I don't know how she'll react"

"Seriously? One of her best friends is gay, why would she have a problem if you were?"

"I don't know, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry" Miranda said reaching for Tori's hand

"So am I" Tori frowned "I'm sorry I fell for someone who can't even tell their parents who their dating"

"Tori, don't do this" Miranda begged

"Goodbye Miranda" Tori said entering her house closely the door quickly behind her

"Damn it!" Miranda yelled loudly making her way back to the car

"Miranda are you okay?" Hanna asked seeing the tears in her daughter's eyes

"Can we just go please?"

The day came quickly, the sun rising in the sky beckoning everyone awake. Today was going to be hard, that was the one thing Jess knew for sure, today was going to suck. Her mother had called everyone who worked in the school asking them to make sure Jess stayed away from Tori and Miranda. What was she supposed to do without them? How was she going to get through the day without her friends? Today was going to suck!

"Miranda" Jess said excitedly seeing her by her locker "Can we talk?"

"Whatever" Miranda answered quietly

"Are you okay?" Jess asked looking around the hallway making sure no teachers saw them

"Fine" Miranda lied slamming her locker shut "Why do you ask?"

"Ummm…no reason" Jess said glancing at Miranda's outfit that consisted of gray sweatpants and an oversized white t shirt "Anyway, I need to talk to you about what happened last night"

"Mrs. Kahn, a word please?"

"Ms. Shepherd please I just need a minute" Jess begged

"Mrs. Kahn!" She said firmly "Now"

"Why so glum chum?" Amy asked walking up to Miranda

"Leave me alone" Miranda pleaded trying to make her way past Amy

"I just wanted to say hey"

"I'm not interested in talking to you"

"Alright, alright I see how it is" Amy smiled "Where's your side-kick? Tori, right?"

"Shut the hell up!" Miranda yelled taking a step towards Amy

"Aww, did you and Tori have a little fight?"

"Shut the hell up!" Miranda screamed louder

"No, I'm good" Amy laughed

Miranda lunged toward Amy, throwing her fist forward aiming for her face.

"Too bad Miranda, you won't get another chance" Amy said clutching onto Miranda's fist "I have some of your secrets stashed away so unless you want them spread around school I would back down!" She threatened dropping her fist

"I'm sorry Jessica, but your mother informed us about what happened over the weekend and I agree that this friendship with Miranda and Victoria is toxic"

"I understand" Jess lied storming away from the teacher

"Jess" Liam called pulling her into a nearby hallway "Hey" he smiled their eyes meeting each other's

"Hi" she greeted shyly "What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure I didn't scare you with all the stuff I said yesterday"

"No, it's just I didn't think you felt that way" Jess admitted

"How could I not?"

"Well in a few months I'm gonna be big and round, are you gonna feel the same way then?" Jess whispered making sure no one overheard

"Jessica" Liam smiled taking her hand in his "If I could give you one thing in life, I would give you the ability to see yourself through my eyes, only then would you realize how special you are to me"

"Why are you so freaking good at that?" Jess asked a faint smile emerging on her face

"Good at what? Saying what I feel?"

"Yea, I don't know how to do that" Jess admitted holding tighter to Liam's hand

"Just say what you feel, tell me what's in your head, tell me what's in your heart"

"Liam, when I first say you I was afraid to meet you. When I first meet you I was afraid to kiss you. When I first kissed you I was afraid to love you. But now that I love you I'm afraid to lose you"

"You're not gonna lose me! I may not get to see you as often as I like. I may not get to hold you in my arms all through the night. But deep in my heart I truly know you're the one that I love and I can't let you go" Liam admitted wrapping his arms around her waist "I could never let you go"

"I never want you to" She brought her lips to his her arms resting around his neck "Please never let me go"

"I'll never let you go" he whispered in between kisses


	29. I'm Not Okay

The hallways were clearing out only a few students were left lingering. She saw her from a distance, her usual smile nonexistent, her usual laugh not heard. There was something different about her today. Something was wrong with her today. But what was it?

"Tori?" Emma said walking up to the girl

"Yea" she said quietly not looking away from her locker "What can I do for you"

"Are you okay?"

"Do you care?" Tori snapped stuffing her English textbook into her bag

"Whether I like it or not you're my cousin, so yes I care"

"Well I don't" Tori whined closing her locker speeding away from Emma

"What the hell?" Emma whispered to herself as she watched Tori disappear down the hall

She couldn't keep her eyes opened. It was almost as if the simple task of staying awake was too hard for her, she felt her eyes shut and her head fall onto the desk. Even just a minute of sleep was like she had won the lottery, it had been a week since she had a proper rest. Her eyes constantly opened her mind constantly awake her body fighting it each step of the way.

"Ella!" Ezra yelled "Class is over, do you plan on leaving anytime soon?"

"What?" She asked looking around the empty classroom "When did I get in here?"

"Ella, you're in English. You don't remember coming here?"

"Of course I do" She lied stumbling to her feet rubbing her tired eyes as she slung her bag onto her shoulder "I'll see you at home"

"Sorry, Ella" Emma apologized as she ran into the younger girl

"It's fine"

"What's wrong with you?" Emma asked examining her sister's odd behavior "Jesus Christ Ella!" she yelled pulling her into the bathroom "You're doing it again aren't you"

"No" Ella lied looking at herself in the mirror

"Stop lying to me! You're such a freaking idiot!" Emma screamed pulling out her phone

"Who are you calling?" Ella asked splashing water onto her face

"Who do you think? I'm calling Mom"

"You can't do that"

"Try and stop me! This is the best thing for you, obviously you can't control this addiction by yourself"

"I don't have an addiction"

"Sure you don't! Hey Mom"

"Emma, are you okay?" Aria asked

"I'm fine it's Ella"

"God" Aria whined "She's still taking them isn't she"

"You knew?" Emma asked surprised

"I'll explain later, don't let her out of your sight I'm on my way"

Her eyes were locked on her, she didn't have the courage to talk to her. She couldn't, she was embarrassed, scared, she couldn't talk to her after everything that happened yesterday.

"Miranda" Liam called running up behind the girl "Hey, can we talk?"

"No thanks"

"I wasn't asking for your permission" He laughed grabbing her hand bringing her into a nearby classroom

"Get the hell off of me" Miranda whined

"Miranda" Jess said quietly "What the hell happened to you yesterday?"

"I don't feel like talking about it"

"Liam, do you mind giving us a minute" she asked watching as Liam left the classroom "Miranda please tell me what happened to you"

"Me? What about you? I heard that you're not supposed to be seen with me or _Tori_" even saying the name hurt her

"Tori" Jess said "You and Tori had a fight that's why you're so pissed off"

"That's none of your business"

"I'm right" Jess grinned "What was the fight over?"

"Me" Miranda admitted "She found out that I never told my parents that we were dating"

"Why?"

"I have no freaking clue! I'm just scared to tell them"

"Why?" Jess repeated

"I don't know, I already have a lot going on right now with the whole bio mom thing and now Tori"

"You have to tell your parents and you have to get Tori back, no offense but you're no fun without her by your side"

"Gee thanks"

"What without Tori your all gloomy, sad, pissy, you need Tori" Jess said

"It doesn't matter if I need her, Tori doesn't want me back"

"I'll change that" Jess smiled

"Please don't get involved there's nothing you can do, she doesn't trust me anymore, I lied to her I told her a week ago that my parents already knew"

"You're a freaking idiot" Jess laughed "Don't worry Jess is gonna fix this for you. Liam" she called

"You rang?" He smiled reentering the room

"I need you to find Tori for me"

"Got it"

"I already told you I didn't want to talk to you" Tori whined walking away from Noah

"Please just one minute" Noah begged "I saw you talking to Emma earlier today, are you two close?"

"As close as Emma and Jess" she joked

"Damn" Noah complained walking close by Tori's side "Can I ask you a question?"

"No, I don't know if she'll be willing to get back together with you"

"How did you know?"

"I'm good at reading people"

"Tori!" Liam called "I need you to come with me"

"No thanks"

"Jess wants to talk to you"

"Jess is here? I thought she stayed home today?" Noah asked

"No she's hiding in the science lab" Liam explained

"Hiding?" Tori repeated confused

"I'll explain later just come with me"

"Whatever"

She followed behind him heading towards the science room her mind spinning with several thoughts. What did Jess want to talk to her about? Why did she need to see her in an empty classroom? Why did she send Liam to get her? What the hell was going on?

"Hey Tori" Jess greeted swinging her legs as she sat on top of the desk "Wanna tell me why you broke up with Miranda?"

"Really, this is what this little meeting is about?" Tori asked annoyed "If you must know, I broke up with her because she lied to me and I can't tolerate liars"

"And yet your friends with me. I lie more than I breath" Jess joked

"I don't want to talk about this"

"Tori!" Jess called trying to get her to stop from leaving "Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry" Noah said walking towards his sister "For the way I've been treating you so badly. Honestly I was pissed at you because when I tried to help you it made Emma break up with me"

"No Noah" Jess began jumping off the desk "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for dragging you into all my drama. But if you help me with Miranda and Tori I'll help you with Emma"

"Deal" Noah smiled shaking his sisters hand


	30. Miles Apart

It wasn't that she was upset or angry, it was almost as if she was broken. Her heart like a broken doll, shattered the pieces thrown into the wind never to be found again. She was lost without Tori, she never knew how much Tori had meant to her, until she wasn't with her.

"Get your lazy ass out of bed" Connor demanded "Mom made breakfast"

"I'm not hungry" Miranda whined covering her head with a pillow

It had been almost a week since she saw that perfect smiled, since she heard that perfect laugh, since she felt her soft lips on hers, since she held her in her arms. It was complete and utter torture not being with her, it was painful not hearing her voice not laughing at her stupid jokes it was painful not being with her.

"Miranda!" Connor said louder "Mom and Dad want you downstairs for breakfast!"

"Tell them that I don't give a crap about what they want"

"It's your funeral"

She wiped her glasses down, ridding the lenses of her tears. It was too hard being by herself, it was too damn hard not being with Miranda. But what was she supposed to do? There was never a happy ending for them anyway.

"Tori" Mona said sweetly her knuckles knocking lightly on the door before entering "Are you ready to talk?"

"I don't want to talk about this"

"We have to honey, it's a big decision" Mona explained

"I know it is, but I honestly don't know what to do"

"I understand" Mona stepped further into the room sitting on the end of her daughter's bed "Why don't you talk to your friends about it? Call Miranda she can come over"

"No" Tori said quickly

"Did something happen?"

"I'm not interested in explaining it" Tori said laying back down covering herself with the blanket

They had dragged her against her will downstairs just to eat breakfast. They did it every Saturday, but today she wanted not part of it. She wanted to escape back to her room and hide underneath her blanket forever.

"Miranda" Caleb began swallowing a piece of bacon "Are you eating?"

"Like I told Connor" she glared at him harshly still harboring ill feelings towards her brother "I'm not hungry"

"Miranda you need to eat" Hanna said passing her a plate of eggs "Just a bite"

"I don't want a bite" Miranda said angrily crossing her arms over her chest

"Connor can you go to your room please?" Caleb asked "I think we need to talk to Miranda alone"

"Whatever" Connor whined shuffling out of the room

"Miranda, can you please tell us what's wrong"

"Dad it's nothing"

"Liar" Hanna smiled "What's his name?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I know how teenage girls act when they have their hearts broken" Hanna explained "So who is it?"

"Tori" Miranda said quickly her eyes locked on her plate

"Victoria?" Caleb questioned

"Yes"

"So" Hanna began again biting into her toast "What happened, did she break your heart?"

"You're not surprised?" Miranda asked

"I'm not oblivious I see the way you look at her" Hanna smiled "So tell us what happened"

"Do you have a plan?" Liam asked his hand playing with a strand of Jess' hair

"No, not really"

"How can you not have a plan? This was your idea" Noah whined scanning through the restaurant menu

"I know, but I'm not even sure what happened between them..so" Jess explained taking a sip of her water

"Wasn't it because Miranda lied to Tori?" Liam asked recalling the conversation from Monday

"That's what Tori said but I'm pretty sure there's something she's not telling me"

"Girls are complicated" Noah laughed turning to the waitress putting his order in

"You can say that again" Liam smiled

"Jerk" Jess whined elbowing Liam in the stomach

She stared at him. His face looked familiar but then again it looked like that of a stranger. Who was he really? What did he really want?

"Victoria" He began

"Tori!" She corrected "The only person that can call me Victoria is my mother"

"I'm sorry, Tori I came here to apologize"

"Apologize?" Tori laughed "Apologize for missing the last 15 years of my life? Apoligize for running out on me because things got to hard? Apoligize for being a deadbeat dad, and complete asshole?"

"Victoria!" Mona yelled "Don't speak to him that way?"

"Why? You always told me to tell the truth" Tori said "You raised me to avoid lying at all costs"

"I understand that you're mad at me"

"That's an understatement"

"But the reason that I came is because I want to know you, I want to have you in my life"

"To bad I don't want you in mine"

"Victoria, you don't have a choice he has rights" Mona explained "And I believe moving closer to him will help the situation"

"This is crap! We just got here! I finally have friends, and now you want to move?"

"Tori, please just try and understand"

"Understand! I don't want to understand!" Tori yelled getting up from the couch "If we move I'll never forgive you" she screamed looking at her parents "I want you out of my house Mike!"

"If you still care about her you need to tell her" Hanna advised

"But what if she doesn't want to hear it?"

"Life is too short to wonder, you need to take chances"

She couldn't wait to see her, see her face, see her perfect eyes, her smile, she just couldn't wait to see her.

"Hello Mona" Miranda smiled as the door opened "Is Tori home?"

"She is but I don't know if she's seeing anyone"

"Please can I just talk to her for a minute?"

"I'll get her" Mona grinned walking towards Tori's room

"Miranda!" Tori said shocked as she walked outside "Why are you here?"

"I need to talk to you"

"I can't Miranda, I can't do this" She said trying to get back inside

"Please just let me say one thing" Miranda begged holding onto Tori's hand

"Go ahead"

"Tori, before I met you, I never knew what it was like to be able to look at someone and smile for no reason" Miranda began her eyes never moving off of Tori's "Everyone says you only fall in love once, but that's not true because every time I see you I fall in love all over again"

"Miranda" Tori whined holding back her tears "I already told you, I can't do this" She ripped her hand away from Miranda's quickly closing herself back inside leaving Miranda alone in tears

"Did you tell her?" Mona asked

"No, it's better if I just disappear"

"Honey, she means a lot to you and you to her. You need to tell her"

"I don't want to" Tori said wiping her tears "She hates me now anyway"

"Mona" Mike called walking down the hall "When do you want to start packing?"

"Later today" Mona answered "Are you sure all our stuff will fit at your place?"

"It's not permanent just until you find a place of your own" Mike explained "Did you say your goodbyes?"

"Like you care" Tori whined locking herself in her bedroom "Hey Jess"

"Tori! Thank god you called I have a plan to help you and Miranda"

"I'm moving"


	31. It's Raining It's Pouring

"I'm moving" Tori said her tears beginning to overwhelm her

"Moving?" Jess repeated not believing what her friend had said "Where?"

"New York City"

"That's only 3 hours away, it's not that bad" Jess said

"Not that bad? It's terrible!" Tori whined

"Okay this is too important to talk about over the phone, meet me at the Grille" Jess ordered quickly hanging up the phone

She had said everything that she could, she told her everything that was in her heart, she did everything but yet she was still shot down.

"Miranda" Connor called knocking quietly on the door "Mom and Dad are going to the store, they wanted to know if you need anything"

"A tub of chunky monkey and new sweatpants" Miranda said her head laying comfortably on the pillow

"Are you okay?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"You're my sister I care about you"

"You care about me" Miranda laughed "Is that way you helped Amy blackmail one of my friends?"

"You know about that!" Connor said surprised

"Hell yea, why would you do that to me? What was in it for you?"

"Money" He answered quietly

"Money!" Miranda repeated angrily "You sold me out for money!"

"You don't understand, I needed the money"

"Get out!" Miranda yelled "Get the hell out of my room! Get the hell out of my life!"

"Miranda please" Connor tried to explain

"Get away from me!" Miranda screamed as Connor moved closer to her

The Grille was unusually quiet as she waited for Jess to arrive. She didn't want to talk about it, there was nothing that they could do to stop it, the best thing to do was leave without a second look.

"Please explain this to me" Jess said as she joined Tori at the table "When the hell did you find out you were moving?"

"My dad is back and suddenly wants me in his life, and my mom thinks moving closer to him is a good idea"

"That's a joke right? He ran out on you two before you were even a year old and your mom is letting him back into your life?"

"That was my reaction" Tori admitted taking a sip from her coffee "But there's really nothing we can do"

"I know" Jess said her tone sounding defeated "Did you tell Miranda?"

"No" Tori confessed "I don't know how to tell her after"

"After what?"

"She came by my house earlier and told me she loved me"

"And you said?" Jess asked excitedly hoping she reciprocated the feelings

"I said I can't do this then I slammed the door in her face"

"Damn"

"Yea, she's never going to talk to me ever again" Tori said her head falling into her hands

"Not if I can help it" Jess smiled

He paced quickly outside her house waiting for the door to open. He needed to explain what happened, he needed to tell her what was really going on.

"Hello Mrs. Fitz" Noah smiled "Is Emma home?"

"Noah, I don't think Emma wants to talk to you" Aria said angrily still holding a grudge against the young boy

"Please I just need to talk to her for a few minutes"

"I don't think that's a good idea" Aria tried to explain

"Mom who's here?" Emma asked coming to the door "Oh"

"Emma can I talk to you just for two minutes?"

"Whatever" She complained rolling her eyes "Mom will you give us a second?" she asked watching her mother disappear into the kitchen "What?"

"Emma please you have to forgive me, nothing I said about getting a girl pregnant was true"

"I know" Emma admitted crossing her arms over her chest

"If you knew, why are you still mad at me?" Noah questioned

"I'm not, I was just seeing how long it would take you to tell me the truth"

"You're a real piece of work, you were driving me crazy I thought you hated me"

"I did, for about three days, I hated your guts I thought you were the worst human being alive"

"What changed your mind?"

"I realized you were protecting your sister" Emma smiled "You have to admire a guy who would put their relationship in jeopardy to protect their sister"

"So does this mean we could go back to the way we were?"

"We could try" Emma said "Let's start tomorrow, pick me up at 6 we'll have dinner at the Grille"

"Okay" Noah smiled "I'll see you tomorrow"

"Why did you drag me here?" Miranda asked holding tightly to her umbrella

"Jess told me to, she said it was important" Liam explained

"Do you do everything Jess asks?"

"Shut up" Liam laughed his cheeks turning pink "She's waiting over there" he pointed

"Jess?" Miranda called walking over to the middle of the park "What the hell?"

"I'm sorry, but I had to trick you in order to get you here" Tori said "We need to talk"

"We talked enough at your house" Miranda whined trying to walk away

"Wait" Tori begged "I gave you a chance to talk, now you give me a chance"

"Fine"

"I heard someone once say: everyone says you fall in love once but that's not true because every time I see you I fall in love all over again"

"I wonder what idiot said that"

"The idiot that I'm in love with" Tori smiled wiping the raindrops from her face "You and I are the best team your my best friend and the love of my life my heart and my soul the one I want to be with each and every day. You are the one I want to cheer me on through life, your arms are the ones I want to comfort and support me your lips are the ones I want against mine, your"

She crashed her lips into Tori's her fingers running through her wet hair.

"I love you Miranda!" Tori confessed in between kisses

"I love you Tori"

Miranda's arms wrapped around Tori's waist holding her closer to her body as Tori's arms found their way around Miranda's neck.

"Finally" Jess laughed watching the pair walk back to the car

"Shut up" Miranda giggled sliding into the car "Do you have a towel?" She asked

"Nope, that's what you get for making out in the rain" Liam smiled

"Shut up!" Miranda repeated reaching for Tori's hand "I'm just glad everything is back to normal"

"Yeah" Tori said putting a fake smile on her face

"Did you tell her?" Jess asked Tori wondering if Miranda was aware that Tori was moving

"Yup" She lied

"Tell me what?" Miranda asked

Tori leaned over lowering her voice whispering seductively in her ear "That I love you"

She didn't have the heart to tell Miranda that she was moving. But then again she didn't have the strength to leave without telling her that she loved her. What was she supposed to do when they lived in different cities?


	32. Fairytale

_**Question: What couple(s) do you want to read more about? **_

Was this it? Was this the end of her fairytale? Was this how she was going to remember her first love? She could feel her heart stop when she thought about not seeing that face every day, her breathing would quicken when she thought of Miranda falling in love with someone else. She wasn't ready to let go, not yet.

She smiled as she felt Miranda's hand run through her dark hair. She could stay like this forever, sitting on a couch her head resting on Miranda's chest as their hands intertwined, feeling each time Miranda took a breath. But she knew it wasn't going to be like this forever, they could still be together but it wouldn't be the same not when there was 3 hours in between them.

"Miranda" Tori whispered

"That's my name"

"I need to tell you something"

"You can tell me anything Tori" Miranda said sensing Tori's hesitation

"I'm…" she stuttered feeling the words become stuck in her throat "I'm…"

"Moving" Miranda finished

"How did you know?" Tori asked sitting up turning to face her

"Jess told yesterday after we left the park" Miranda explained

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would it make a difference, I don't care that you're moving I still want to be with you whether your 3 minutes away or 3 hours away"

"I'm scared" Tori admitted leaning her head back onto Miranda's chest

"I know, it can be scary leaving but you'll be fine, I know you will" Miranda smiled kissing her gently on the forehead "I believe in you"

"I'm the wrong horse to bet on" Tori laughed her fingers playing mindlessly with Miranda's

"No you're not, in fact I'm betting all my money on you" Miranda joked "Wanna know why? Cause I believe in you and I love you"

"That's a coincidence" Tori giggled "I love you to"

Her eyes were fixed on the mirror as she spun watching her dress blow in the breeze she had created. There was something different about this dress, it felt as if it had a story to it. A story with a happy ending.

"It's like I'm looking in a mirror" Aria smiled her eyes locked on her daughter's outfit

"Do you like it?" Emma asked tucking her brown hair behind her left ear

"I love it"

"Really?" Emma asked again seeking confirmation that she looked good

"Let's ask your father" Aria grinned calling Ezra from his office "How does Emma look?"

"Oh my god" He gasped looking at the familiar dress "It's amazing"

She felt the corner of her mouth turn up, she couldn't help but smile. She could tell this dress held memories of her parents it was written across their faces.

"I'll be back in a few hours" She grabbed her purse moving towards her door "Bye Mom, bye Dad"

"Bye" Aria and Ezra said together watching their oldest daughter disappear down the stairs than out the front door

"She was wearing my dress" Aria said proudly "Do you remember that dress?"

"Of course I do" Ezra smiled recalling the memory of the purple dress "It was the dress you were wearing when I meet you, I didn't know you still had it"

"I didn't have the heart to get rid of it" Aria admitted "It held to many memories"

"I understand what you mean" Ezra said wrapping his arms around Aria's waist "I still have the book I was reading when we meet, I keep it on my desk at all times"

"Geez" Aria laughed rolling her eyes "Where just a pair of hopeless romantics aren't we?"

"Definitely" Ezra confessed joining copying his wife's laughter before kissing her softy on the lips

He was already there sporting his usual leather jacket and ripped jeans a loose Guns n Roses t-shirt clinging to his chest. She could tell he was nervous, his right leg shaking beneath him as he waited at the table.

"Sorry I had to change the place" Noah apologized seeing Emma enter the pub "The Grille was crazy crowded so I thought this place would be better"

"It's nice" She smiled looking around the small place "It looks familiar" she admitted her eyes glued to the pictures on the wall

"Have you been here?" Noah asked pulling out a chair for his date

"I don't think so, but I think I've see it someplace"

"Your parents" Noah said

"No, I don't think I ever came here with them"

"No, your parents there's a picture of them on the wall" Noah observed pointing to a picture on the front wall near the bar

"What the hell?" She almost laughed seeing their young faces "Oh my god"

"That's weird" Noah said following Emma towards the picture "They never told you they came here?"

"No, but I wish they did I love hearing about when they were dating" Emma grinned her finger tracing over the picture "Don't they look happy"

"No" Noah said his smile never fading "They look in love"

"They do don't they" She reached for his hand holding it tightly in her own

"Can I get you two anything?" The waiter asked

"I'll have a cheeseburger" Emma answered her eyes never looking away from the picture

She didn't want to talk to her mother but she didn't really have a choice she needed to tell her what she wanted to do. She needed to tell her what her plan for the baby was.

"Did you decide?" Ali asked sitting down on the couch crossing her left leg over her right

"I have" Jess admitted as from her place at the piano bench her fingers running across the keys "I'm keeping it"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure" Jess said her volume increasing "Why do I have the right to take a life? If I decide that I can't handle having a baby I'll put it up for adoption, give it a chance at a better life than I could give it" She glanced at her mother "Are you mad?"

"No Jess" Ali said calmly "I'm actually very proud of you, you're dealing with this with a lot of maturity"

"Thank you" Jess smiled her eyes now off the piano and locked on her mother "Thank you for respecting my decision"

"I thought about the way your father and I handled the situation when we first found out, we made you feel like you didn't have a choice when in reality it's all your choice and we can't change that no matter how hard we try"

She felt the tears in her eyes, she couldn't hold them back any longer. She finally felt like she was in a good place with her mother. She finally felt like she could let go of the grudge she had been holding against her mother and father ever since they found out about her being pregnant. She finally felt like she had the support of her parents back.

"Is that okay with you?" Liam asked nervously his parents sitting in front of him

"It's very responsible of you" Spencer said "I'm proud that you're stepping up"

"I made a choice to be involved in my kids life, I'm gonna be a great dad, I'm not gonna be one of those dads who skips out or does nothing to support their kid. When my kid grows up and someone ask them who their hero is I want them to say my daddy, my daddy is my hero"

"That's how I felt" Toby admitted "When I found out we were having a little boy, all I wanted was for you to look up to me like I was superman"

Liam heard his mom laugh as his dad mentioned superman "I do look at you like that dad. I've always looked at you like that and I always will"

"If you're really interested in getting a job, I can get you a part time job with the Police Department, you can help the janitor" Toby grinned

"Cleaning….fun" Liam laughed sarcastically

"If it pays it'll be fun" Spencer said smiling at her son

She was almost there, she had almost done it. There was only one more thing to do. She needed to tell the school or at least threaten to tell the school. She was positive that if she did that Jess was back down, she would fade into the sidelines making way for her to rise above the rest. That wasn't the only reason she was doing this, she wanted to stop Jess from attacking those who feared her, she wanted to stop Jess from attacking those who she thought were beneath her.

"Amy" Paige called entering her daughter's messy room "Dinner's ready"

"I'm not really hungry"

"That's a shock" Paige laughed walking over to her daughter "I've never seen you skip a meal, is everything alright?"

"Yea, I'm just having some trouble at school" Amy lied

"What's going on?"

"It's nothing, Jess Kahn is just making fun of me again" Amy said bringing a frown to her face

"Emily!" Paige yelled storming from Amy's room "I thought we took care of that problem"

"What problem?" Emily asked placing plates onto the table

"Jessica Kahn is bullying Amy again"

"Damn it" Emily whined dropping the last plate onto the table "Should I call Ali?"

"No" Paige said quickly still jealous of Emily and Ali's past "I'll call the school"

"What is that gonna do?"

"It's gonna bring it to the attention of the teacher's" Paige explained reaching for her cell phone "My daughter will not be a victim of Alison's bullying"

"You mean Jessica" Emily corrected

"What?"

"You said Alison"

"No I didn't"

"Paige, you said and I quote 'I will not let my daughter be a victim of Alison's bullying' is this about Amy and Jess or you and Ali?"

"Don't you dare bring Ali into this"

"I just asked a simple question!" Emily yelled slamming a glass cup onto the table "I can tell this isn't about Amy this is about your freaking feud with Ali, you still haven't forgiven her"

"How could I? How could I possibly forgive her for everything she did to me and you? How could I forgive her for playing with you heart"

"Playing with my heart?" Emily asked angrily

"Pretending that she loved you, pretending that you had a shot"

"Ali does love me"

"Does?" Paige said loudly her face turning red with rage "Does!" She repeated

"I meant did"

"Do you still love Ali?" Paige yelled "Do you?"

"No..yes…" She stuttered "I don't know, feelings like that never truly go away"

"Are you still in love with Ali?"

"You know I love you" Emily tried to explain reaching for Paige's hand

"Are you still in love with Ali?"

"Screw you!" Emily screamed rushing towards the front door

There was a soft knock on the front door.

"Emily?"

"Can I stay here tonight?" Emily asked her face stained with tears

"Of course, come in" Ali smiled gesturing Emily inside


	33. Pulse

He laid still every bone in his body screaming out in pain, even moving an inch caused tears to stream from his eyes. His left arm covered by a cast, his chest wrapped up blocking the bruising on his ribs, his nose broken and swollen, his face littered with stiches. The room was quiet, no one dared to speak not knowing what to say. His eyes flickered opened the florescent lighting causing him to flinch, he had no idea where he was, or how he had gotten there. He struggled to call out for help his voice not cooperating, the only thing leaving his mouth was silence.

"Connor" Caleb said placing his hand on his sons shoulder "You need to calm down"

"Where" He stuttered gasping for breathe

"Don't try to talk, you're in the hospital" Caleb began to explain "The cops believe you were jumped"

Connor's face held a look of utter terror

"You don't need to worry your safe now" Caleb said "But you're going to be in the hospital for a while you have a lot of injuries"

"Who" He stuttered again

"Shhh" Caleb warned "You'll hurt yourself. We don't know who did this but we will I promise you"

"Mom"

"She's on her way she had to get Miranda"

"Miranda" Hanna called loudly shaking her daughter awake

"What the hell?" Miranda yawned her eyes opening looking tiredly towards her mother

"You need to get out of bed, Connor's in the hospital"

"What!"

"Tori" Mona yelled as she packed the last box onto the truck "Tori, we need to get going"

"Just five more minutes okay, she'll be here" Tori said looking down the road for any sign of Miranda's Toyota

"Five Minutes" Mona agreed

"Hey mom" Jess called walking down the hallway towards her parents' bedroom "Mom, can we…" she began "Crap!"

"Crap!" Ali repeated rolling off the bed

"Sorry, I meant to knock" Jess apologized covering her eyes trying to erasing the image of her mother that she had just seen

"It's fine"

"I'll just come back later" Jess said awkwardly walking quickly away from the bedroom when a thought hit her "Isn't dad at a conference in Philadelphia?" she asked herself

"What were you yelling about?"

"Jess just walked in" Ali laughed wrapping the blanket over her bare chest "Good thing you were in the bathroom"

"Nothing about this is a good thing"

"You weren't saying that last night" Ali smiled shuffling over to her side

"Shut up" Emily demanded elbowing her in the side "What I meant was we shouldn't have done that, were both married"

"Technically, I'm not married" Ali explained "If you remember correctly I divorced Noel many _many_ years ago, then we decided to try it again. But I'm still legally divorced"

"Okay, well technically I'm married!" Emily said falling onto the bed "I can't believe I did this to Paige"

"You don't have to tell her" Ali suggested climbing into bed "If you want we can't forget this ever happened. Is that what you want?"

"Yes..No" Emily stuttered her head and her heart having disagreeing "I don't know, I don't think I can forget this"

"I don't think I want you to forget" Ali admitted resting her hand on Emily's knee "Emily I'm still in love with you"

"Holy Shit!" Jess whispered her ear leaning against the door

"Who are you listening to?" Noah asked passing his sister

"No one" Jess lied "Who are _you _listening to?"

"I'm talking to Emma" Noah blushed "No I'm still here" he said returning to his call

She was on her stomach laying in her bed her feet flying in the air as she talked to him. She loved talking to him, their conversations always filled with nothing and everything at the same time.

"Hold on I have another call"

"Is it your other boyfriend?" Noah joked

"How did you know about him?" Emma asked her tone completely serious "Kidding" she laughed when Noah went silent "It's Miranda, Hey Miranda"

"Emma" Miranda cried in between tears "I need you"

"Where are you? What happened?" She asked quickly jumping to her feet

"Rosewood Community"

"The hospital?" Emma asked surprised "I'm on my way"

"Emma? Emma?" Noah asked as the line went dead "What the hell"

"What girlfriend hang up on you" Liam laughed throwing himself onto the couch

"How the hell did you get in here?"

"I stayed the night" Liam smiled raising an eyebrow

"What!"

"I'm kidding, Jess just let me in" Liam laughed watching as Jess entered the room her phone held tightly to her ear

"Miranda slow down what happened? Okay, I'll be there soon" Jess hung up the phone her eyes darting towards Liam "I need a ride"

"Where?"

"Rosewood Community" Jess said grabbing her jacket off the kitchen table "Connor was jumped last night"

"Tori, we have to go now" Mona said walking to her daughter's side "I'm sorry"

"It's fine if Miranda wanted to say bye she would have came" Tori frowned unaware that Miranda was desperately trying to get in touch with her but couldn't due to Tori's dead phone "Let's just go"

She slid into the back seat quickly buckling up plugging her headphones in her ears and blasting her music. Her head fell onto the window watching as the trees on her front lawn became distant blurs than disappeared as if they were never there. She watched as the town she grew to love in such a short time vanished from her sight.

"Bye Rosewood it was nice knowing you" Tori whispered to herself

"Miranda what happened?" Jess asked pulling Miranda into a tight hug

"We don't know, but the cops think a gang jumped Connor last night" Miranda cried into Jess' shoulder

"Miranda!" Emma yelled running to the blonde pushing Jess out of the way "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but Connor.." she couldn't finish her tears overwhelming her "Jess, where's Tori?" she asked looking around the lobby "I thought you said you would try and call her"

"I did but it went straight to voice mail" Jess explained

"Damn it" Miranda whined pulling out her phone rushing off towards the waiting room "Tori?"

"Hi" Tori said quietly

"Why didn't you answer before!" Miranda asked angrily her tears continuing to stream down her face

"My phone was dead, what's wrong?" Tori questioned hearing Miranda's raspy voice "Are you crying?"

"Connor's in the hospital, and I don't know if he's gonna be okay" Miranda admitted her head leaning against the wall as she slid onto the floor "I don't know what to do"

"First thing you need to do is breath, take a deep breath and flush out your fears and worries, everything is gonna be okay"

"How do you know that?"

"Because I'm on my way, just hold on" Tori said

She looked at her mom with hopeful eyes begging her to turn around, begging her to return to Rosewood.

"Mom please she needs me" Tori pleaded

"Do you want a drink?" Noah asked releasing Emma's hand from his

"No thanks" She smiled kissing him quickly on the cheek

"Emma, Jess" Hanna said happily "I'm glad you two are here, Miranda needs her friends at a time like this"

"How is he?" Emma and Jess asked together

"He's in and out of consciousness, the doctors said he may need to have brain surgery because they're afraid that he could have a hemorrhage, and he's still having problems breathing properly" Hanna tried to explain tears flowing from her eyes "I'm sorry" she apologized retreating back into the hospital room

"Can I ask you a question?" Emma said looking towards Jess

"Sure"

"Does Miranda love Tori?"

"She does" Jess smiled "And if I were you I would give up the anger you have against Tori and be happy for your friend"

"I know" Emma admitted crossing her arms over her chest "I just don't want to be replaced"

"Emma, Tori isn't trying to take your place as Miranda's best friend there's enough room for both of you in her life"

"I know" Emma repeated leaning her head against the wall

"Where's Miranda!" Tori yelled running towards the girls trying to catch her breath

"Tori?"

"Where's Miranda!"

"I thought she was in the waiting room talking to you" Emma said

"Miranda" Tori called running through the waiting room searching for the blonde "Thank god" she breathed a sigh of relief as she found Miranda lingering in a corner "Hey" she said sinking onto the floor next to Miranda draping her hand over her shoulder

"I don't know what to do" Miranda cried leaning her head onto Tori

"I know Mira I know, it's gonna be alright I promise"

"How can you promise that?"

"I can't promise to fix all your problems but I can promise you won't have to face them alone. That's how I know it's gonna be okay as long as were together everything is going to be okay"

"Code blue in room 318!" Someone yelled as doctors and nurses rushed to help

"That's Connor's room!" Miranda screamed getting to her feet pulling Tori with her

"Clear!" A doctor said loudly shocking Connor's chest "300 Joules! Clear"

"No heartbeat"

"Again!"

"There's no pulse!"


	34. Promise

She felt his strong arms around her waist as she looked out across the lake. His hot breath blew on her neck as he trailed kisses down to her shoulder. The early sun peeking up over the mountain shining on the morning dew that littered the fallen leaves.

"I like it here" Noah admitted holding her closer to his body resting his chin on her shoulder

"I did to" Emma said sadly "I use to come here with Miranda all the time"

"This was the secret getaway you were telling me about?" Noah asked spinning Emma around to face him

"Yea, me and Miranda found it when we were in second grade, this was the only place we could escape the drama of our families"

"Drama?"

"Oh" Emma laughed "I keep forgetting you didn't grow up here, over the years my mom and Miranda's mom have had really bad fights"

"Why?"

"Cause of my Mom's book, Hanna didn't want the story published she thought it was bad enough that all of Rosewood knew about them she didn't want the rest of the world to know"

"But your Mom still published it"

"She and Hanna compromised, my mom changed some names and protected their identity" Emma explained leaning her head onto his chest "I hate it sometimes"

"What?" Noah asked running his fingers through her hair

"Being the daughter of Aria Montgomery"

"I know how you feel" Noah confessed moving his finger under her chin bringing her eyes to his "I hate being the son of Alison Dilaurentis, everyone automatically thinks I'm a duchebag or spoiled brat"

"You are" Emma laughed kissing his nose "Kidding"

"Do you think you're funny?" Noah asked seriously

"I don't think it, I know it" Emma giggled

"Oh I'll give you something to laugh at" Noah smiled tickling Emma stomach

The bedroom was dark, her head filled with the music that pumped from her headphones. It was too much, she couldn't leave her room she didn't want to. There was nothing for her, Tori was gone, Jess was out with Liam, her relationship with Emma still on the rocks.

"Hey Rivers, since this is the fifth time I've called and you haven't answered I'm guessing that your hiding in your bed. Come on Miranda your better than this, your stronger than this. Get off your lazy ass and greet the day" Tori said "Anyway I hope your feeling better and I'll see you in a few days. Bye Mira, I love you"

She listened to the message quickly regretting not picking up the phone. She wanted to talk to someone, she wanted to express her feelings but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Miranda" Hanna called entering her daughters room "Miranda, come on you need to get up"

"I don't want to" Miranda whined pulling the blanket tighter around her body

"I thought you were coming with me, your father's already there"

"I don't want to go"

"You need to go sometime, you haven't been there since last week"

"Cause I can't stand to see him like that!" Miranda admitted sitting up her eyes filled with tears "It's my fault, I told him I didn't want him in my life and now.." her voice cracked

"Miranda don't you dare think like that, this is no one's fault besides the people who attacked him" She descended onto the bed beside her daughter "Please come, please" Hanna begged

"Just this once"

"How did you find this place?" Liam asked holding the door opened for Jess

"Noah told me about it, he brought Emma here for a date like a week ago" Jess explained picking out a small table in the back of the room "Isn't it beautiful?"

"It is" Liam smiled looking directly at Jess

"I was talking about the place not me" She blushed

"I know, I just like giving you compliments"

"Can I ask you something?" Jess questioned her tone indicating that it was serious

"Of course"

"What happens after the baby is born?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we still gonna be like this? I mean how are we supposed to handle being teen parents? Won't we fight?"

"Fighting isn't always bad" Liam smiled "Don't when we fight, worry when we stop because it means there's nothing left for us to fight for"

"Come on" She laughed "I'm serious, what happens if it's too much for us? What happens if you fall in love with someone else?"

"I could never fall for someone else, your everything I need, your everything I love" Liam explained pulling a small velvet box from his pocket dropping down to his knee

"Liam!" Jess said nervously "What the hell are you doing?"

"I can't promise you a perfect relationship without arguments and differences, I can't promise that we won't make mistakes or say stupid things, I can't promise that we won't we get mad and fight, but I can promise as long as you're trying I'm staying. Jessica this isn't a engagement ring it's only a promise that I'm not going anywhere, I'm gonna be by your side through everything"

She had tears in her eyes staring lovingly at Liam. Her heart beat out of control as he lifted the ring from its place in the box.

"Will you accept it?"

"Of course" Jess cried watching Liam slide the ring onto her finger

"I hope you like the blue sapphire, I wanted it to match your eyes"

"I love it almost as much as I love you" She moved her hands to his face pulling him into her lips

"Can he hear?" Miranda asked

"We'd like to think he can" Caleb smiled sitting in the chair nearest the window

"You can talk to him if you want" Hanna said sitting beside Caleb

"What am I supposed to say?"

"Anything"

She shuffled slowly to the side of the bed playing nervously with her fingers "Hey Connor" she began tears in her eyes as she looked at her beaten brother, his eye still bruise, his nose still covered in tape "It's Miranda" she slide her hand into his "I just wanted to let you know that I'm here, and I can't wait for you to wake up"

"Does she know?" Caleb whispered

"I didn't have the heart to tell her, we don't even know if it will happen"

"Han, there's a high risk of him never waking up"

"He's gonna wake up!" Miranda said angrily hearing her parents quiet conversation "He's gonna wake up"


	35. Has It Been That Long?

_**Question: What's your favorite friendship?**_

The turntable spun quickly as Emma attempted to transform the lump of clay into a recognizable object. He found her in the empty room, a smile crossing his face as he heard the faint sound of her voice singing along to the music which blared in her ears. He crept behind her wrapping his arms around her waist planting a soft kiss on her shoulder before kissing her cheek.

"Am I interrupting you?" He asked as she pulled the headphones from her ears

"No, I'm almost done Mr. Leroy said I can stay after to finish" Emma explained getting to her feet carrying her project towards the shelves

"Too bad" Noah frowned "I was hoping to wrap my arms around you and sing unchained melody in your ear" He walked over to her leaning into her lips

"I'm sorry" She apologized pulling away from his lips "I'm just not in the mood, there's just a lot going on"

"I understand, it's been a hell of a month" Noah said kindly "Speaking of which" Noah smiled pulling a small box from his jacket pocket "I got you a present"

"You didn't have to" Emma smiled taking the box "Oh my god!"

"Do you like it?" He asked watching her eyes as they scanned the necklace

"Why a key?" She questioned motioning Noah to help her put the necklace on

"Isn't it obvious" Noah grinned "It's the key to my heart, you have it, you've had it since the first day I saw you across the hallway" He ran his fingers through her hair after placing the necklace on her "But I have to admit, I'm really scared"

"Scared?" Emma repeated her fingers closing around the key that hung above her chest

"Scared of this power I'm giving you. I just gave you my heart and you have the ability to break it and my whole world with it"

"Noah, you don't have to worry about me breaking your heart" Emma promised bringing her arms to her shoulder wrapping them around his neck "I don't know if you know this, but you're the first boy I've ever truly loved" Emma confessed brushing his hair out of his eyes

"I don't know if you know this but, I'm in love with you smile" He began bringing his thumb to her mouth tracing over her lips "I'm in love with your voice, I'm in love with your body, I'm in love with you laugh although it can sometimes be obnoxious" he laughed causing Emma to smack his arm "I'm in love with your perfect green eyes. Emma I'm in love with you" He moved his hand to her face gently cupping her cheeks as he brought his lips to hers feeling as she ran her fingers through his hair

"Damn! The Yankees lost again" Miranda whined her eyes glued to her phone "They have to step up if they want to.."

"Miranda…." Connor moaned his lip trembling

"Connor!" Miranda said ripping her eyes from the screen "Connor" she repeated tears of joy dripping down her face "Mom! Dad!"

"Miranda what's wrong?" Hanna asked running into the hospital room

"He's awake!"

"Caleb! Caleb!" Hanna shrieked "He's awake!"

She packed her bag quickly her heartbeat pounding as she thought about returning to the one place she could truly call home.

"Mom" Tori called running into the living room where her mother was relaxing a book help tightly in her hands "Jess is gonna be here in a few minutes"

"Okay" Mona smiled picking herself off of the couch "Make sure you respect the rules of the house, and just to clarify you are staying at Jess' house right?"

"Yes Mom" Tori giggled slinging the bag over her shoulder "I promise I'm not staying at Miranda's house, oh that's Jess" Tori said hearing the car horn "I'll see you Sunday" She hugged her mother giving her a quick goodbye before disappearing outside

"Hey slowpoke" Jess yelled rolling down the window "Could you go any slower!"

"Hey Jess could you be anymore pregnant" Tori laughed climbing into the passenger seat

"Bitch"

"Same to you" Tori smiled throwing her bag into the backseat "Have you talked to Miranda today?"

"For like a second"

"What did she say?"

"She said and I quote 'Awake, alive, so happy, home soon' so I'm guessing Connor woke up"

"That's great!" Tori exclaimed pulling out her phone "I can't believe I haven't see her in a whole freaking month!" She grinned sending a text

"Her! What about me! I haven't seen you either"

"Of course I missed you to, but I'm not in love with you"

"You're not!" Jess joked "Since when!"

"I hate you" Tori laughed dialing the familiar number "Damn it" she whined hearing the voicemail "Rivers! What the hell you don't answer your phone anymore? Anyway I heard about Connor, that's amazing! I can't imagine how happy you must be, so call me back and we'll talk later. Love you"

"She didn't pick up?" Jess asked sounding confused

"No, she hasn't picked up the last six times I've called"

"That's weird" Jess observed "Here use my phone it's in the glove box"

"Why?" Tori asked dialing the number putting the phone on speaker

"I just want to see if she picks up for me" Jess explained

"Hey Jess what's up?" Miranda asked

"Nothing, just driving around"

"Are you going to meet up with Liam?"

"I wish he's still on the college visit to Yale with his mom"

"That sucks"

"Tell me about it" Jess said "But you have it worse than me, how long has it been since you've seen Tori" She asked already knowing the answer

"I don't know a month maybe"

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"Of course it does, but what can I do about it she lives in New York and I live in Rosewood"

"I understand that the distance is hard but wouldn't it be better if you went to see her or at least called her"

"I guess but talking to her, and video chatting makes it harder" Miranda explained "It makes it feel like she's still here"

"She is" Jess said watching Tori shift uncomfortably in her seat "She's just three hours away"

"I know, I know" Miranda said her tone more upbeat "Maybe I should go over there for the weekend"

"NO!" Jess yelled

"Why not"

"Cause I called her an hour ago she said she has the flu" Jess lied pulling off of the highway "How about we hang out instead?"

"Sure, I'm pretty bored maybe we can rent a movie or something. My parents are gonna be at the hospital all night anyway"

"Sounds great"

"I'll be there in like half an hour"

Her head rested on his shoulder as she flicked through the many channels.

"Are you gonna pick something?" Noah asked grabbing hold of Emma's hand

"Be patient"

"I'm trying but you've literally changed every channel after having it on for only two seconds" Noah laughed reaching for the remote "Let me pick something"

"No! Your taste in tv shows sucks"

"Really? Cause I distinctly remember you being very impressed that I knew about Switched at Birth"

"Please I wasn't impressed, I was just flirting with you" Emma lied desperately trying to hide her grin

"Well it worked, that was the night you kissed me"

"I kissed you?" Emma said no longer able to hide her smile "If I remember correctly you kissed me"

"I don't think so" Noah said playfully

"Was so" Emma argued lifting her head off his shoulder her eyes locked on his "Don't you remember"

"I remember" Noah grinned "I remember I did something like this" He said pulling her onto his lap "And then something like this" He pressed his lips against hers feeling as she laid back on the couch their lips never parting as his body hovered above hers

"Jesus! Get a room!" Ella yelled walking into the living room her hand shooting up to cover her eyes "Seriously Emma, you know how mom and dad feel about you have a boy over and yet here you are practically having sex with him on the couch"

"Calm down, we were just kissing"

"Just kissing my ass" Ella whined making her way to the stairs

"I'm glad your home to!"

"Miranda!" Jess yelled her hands stuffed in the bowl of popcorn that sat on her lap "Miranda I think the pizza's here"

"Thank God, I'm starving" She said running towards the front door "Hi" she began swinging opened the door "Tori!"

"You ordered a pizza without me!" She laughed holding the pizza in her hand as Miranda stared at her happily

"Tori" She repeated still in shock

"Are you gonna invite me in? It's freaking freezing out here"

"Yea come in" She smiled moving aside to allow Tori inside

"Hey Jess"

"Hi Tori" She greeted casually her mouth full of popcorn

"Did you know?" Miranda asked

"Of course I did, who do you think drove her here, Tori's still 15 she can't drive, she's just a _baby_" Jess giggled

"Shut up" Tori begged throwing the pizza onto the coffee table taking a seat on the couch

"I can't believe didn't tell me" Miranda whined dropping herself next to Tori wrapping her arms around Tori as she often did

"That's why they call it surprise" Tori chuckled kissing Miranda's nose

"You missed" Miranda grinned leaning forward

"Nope" Tori said firmly placing her hand over Miranda's mouth "I'm not kissing you until you tell me what I told you in the third message I left you"

"What" Miranda mumbled Tori's hand still covering her mouth

"I just want to make sure you listened to them"

Miranda thought for a moment before quickly turning towards Jess an embarrassed look crossing her face her cheeks turning red. "Ummm….." she stuttered leaning into Tori's ear quietly whispering

"Okay!" Tori laughed "You listened to it"

"What? What did she say?" Jess asked curious to hear the secret

"Nothing" Miranda smiled her cheeks still bright red as she gave Tori a loving look "Movie time?"

"Movie time" Tori repeated snuggling beside Miranda


	36. Crash and Burn

_**Question: Which family is your favorite?**_

"The weekend went to fast" Miranda complained tying her shoes

"I know, I already miss you" Tori admitted yawning as she started getting dressed "But, you're coming up this weekend so we'll see each other soon"

"I don't know if I can wait that long, I miss seeing you, I miss holding you?"

"Is that all you miss?" Tori smiled

"No," Miranda confessed "I miss kissing you"

"What a coincidence, I miss kissing you to"

"Argggg! I have to go" Miranda whined "But I'll see you Saturday"

"Tori!" Mona called "It's time to go"

"Coming Mom"

She ran from her room meeting her mother in the living room her book bag strapped to her shoulder as she pulled her hair into a messy bun.

"Have you seen my.." Tori began

"Kitchen table" Mona interrupted knowing that Tori was searching for her glasses "Ready?"

"Let's go"

"Amy!" Paige yelled "Your gonna be late"

"I'm coming" She said shuffling from her room her brunette hair draped down her back as her hand gripped tightly around her gym bag "Remember parent teacher conferences are tonight!"

"I'll be there"

"What about her?" Amy asked tiptoeing around mentioning Emily knowing that she and Paige were still in a bad place

"She's gonna be there to, I know it's been hard with me and Mom fighting but were not anymore, everything is gonna get back to normal"

"Thank goodness, I was starting to get worried"

"There's nothing to worry about were fine" Paige said rubbing Amy's shoulder lightly

"Promise?"

"I promise, not get your butt to your car or you'll be late" Paige smiled

"I'm going, I'm going"

The school was bustling with students speeding through the hallways each sharing the same look of terror.

"Are you ready for the conferences?" Miranda asked leaning against Jess' locker

"Hell no, I'm still failing math and now I'm on the verge of failing English" Jess whined

"It's gonna be fine, you're going through something and your smart you'll get your grades up"

"Easy for you to say, you're not failing anything"

"Stop complaining, the rest of your grades are still higher than mine"

"They are aren't they" Jess smiled "Son of a bitch" she whispered under her breath watching as Amy approached her

"Jess, Miranda nice to see you girls"

"I wish I could say the same to you" Miranda said glaring angrily at her

"What do you want?"

"Nothing, I just need to get something from a friend's locker" Amy explained

"That's Liam's locker" Jess observed

"I know, I asked if I could keep some of my stuff in it"

"You bitch" Jess almost yelled

"Don't get all testy, I just asked a friend to help me, but just between you and me in a few weeks we won't be just friends. If you know what I mean"

"Bitch!" Jess screamed her voice echoing throughout the hall

"Aww is someone angry?"

"You bet your ass I'm angry, you know for a fact that Liam is with me and yet you need to get your sluty hands all over him"

"What the hell did you just call me?" Amy said pushing Jess against the locker

"Get off of me! You can push me!"

"Why?" Amy asked raising her voice making sure everyone could hear "Is it cause you got yourself knocked up!"

"Amy!" Miranda screamed seeing the shocked looks on the student's faces

"What? Oh was that a secret?" Amy asked sarcastically

"You're a freaking bitch!"

"I swear I didn't know" She smiled

"Well, did you know your slut of a mother cheated"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh was that a secret?" Jess asked "My bad"

"Jess let's go" Miranda said nervously seeing the rage on Amy's face begin to build "She's not worth it"

"That's right! Walk away slut! Walk away"

"Hello Mrs. Kahn" Ms. Shepard greeted

"Hello" Alison smiled taking a seat near her desk "My husband is going to be late so it's okay if we start without him"

"There's not much to say about Noah, his grades are very high, he was having some trouble in History but he's gotten better, Jessica on the other hand is failing math and close to failing English"

"I know, I've spoken to Jess and she promised me she would bring her grades up"

"Excuse me if I'm out of bounds but rumors have been going around school that Jess is pregnant, and I believe that might be the cause of her poor grades"

"My daughter's personal life is none of your concern and I would appreciate it if you would just focus on her grades"

"Mrs. Fitz, it's not that Ella is doing poorly it's just she seems withdrawn from her peers" Mr. Peter explained

"I understand" Aria admitted "She's been dealing with personal problems and it's taking her sometime to sort through them"

"It's not only that but she has missed almost a month of school"

"I know, the truth is Ella had some trouble with amphetamines and she left to receive help"

"How is she now?"

"She's doing much better, but it's still hard for her to adjust back into her everyday routine"

"Ezra, Emma is having trouble in most of her classes" Mrs. Natalie began "Her grades range between 69 and 53"

"Emma!" Ezra whined leaning his head on his hand "I had no idea"

"I found it unusual, she's normally such a good student but there seems to be something distracting her"

"I think I know what it is" He admitted "Noah!" he whispered to himself

"Amy is a good student her grades are high, and it would seem like she is doing perfectly but Amy has trouble with other students. Over the course of this year she's been in more than three fights"

"Although it may not seem like she is but Amy is a good person, she's been having trouble with bullying and she is just trying to stick up for herself" Paige explained to the teacher

"Your daughter isn't being bullied, she is the bully"

"Amy is not a bully!" Emily said defending her daughter "She can't be"

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this but Amy had been targeting Miranda Rivers, Emma Fitz and particularly Jessica Kahn"

"There's no way"

"I understand that there are problems at home, with your marriage" She let slip out

"I'm sorry, what do you know about that?" Paige asked

"Why would you bring up something like that?" Emily questioned

"I think it's causing Amy stress, her having to carry that weight around her"

"Is this something she talked to you about?"

"No, but there have been rumors around school"

The conferences continued Alison, Aria and Emily each hearing the best and worst about their children, discovering secrets that they had been keeping from them.

"How was it?" Jess asked seeing her mother leave the classroom "How bad did they say Noah was"

"Shut up" Noah warned

"She didn't say anything bad about Noah in fact he's a model student you're the one we talked about most"

"Me?" Jess asked pointing a finger towards herself

"Yes you, why didn't you tell me people were spreading rumors about you?" Alison asked as they walked outside towards their car

"Because they're not, it's not a rumor I am pregnant and now that I think about it I'm actually happy Amy told"

"Amy! Amy Fields? She told the school"

"You didn't know that"

"I swear I'm going to"

"You're not going to do anything" Noah said "There's nothing you can do"

"So?" Emma said "Was it good?"

"Emma you're failing your classes!" Ezra whined angrily

"I've just been having trouble understanding some of the topics"

"That's a lie" Ezra said "Your letting Noah distract you, Emma do I need to remind you that Junior year is the most important year of your.."

"High school career" Emma finished "I know" she rolled her eyes storming outside

"Amy!" Emily said moving quickly from the classroom "What the hell is the teacher talking about when she said you've been bullying people!"

"I…" she stuttered

"Forget that" Paige interrupted "What was she talking about when she mentioned problems at home"

"I…" She said again not able to get the words to escape her mouth

"Come on Mom this is my favorite song please turn it up!" Tori begged

"I can't believe you listen to this garbage" Mona laughed reaching for the volume

"Mom watch out!" Tori yelled watching as the car swerved into the opposite lane "Mom!"

Sirens flashed through the dark street as emergency vehicles crowded around the devastating scene.

"One possible survivor, one D.O.A" He explained examining the crash "We need immediate attention"

"Help…" she whispered the simple word sending pain throughout her body "Help…."


	37. Into The Light

_**Question: Who's your favorite character?**_

The ringtone echoed throughout the bedroom her eyes darting opened as her she heard it. Hearing the sound brought back all the memories, all the memories she wished to forget. It was almost as if she was paralyzed, as soon as she grabbed her phone she couldn't bear to look at the screen afraid that she would see the that single letter that brought her so much misery.

"Aria" Ezra groaned pulling the blanket form his head "Honey, your phone is ringing"

"Hello"

"Aria!" Mike cried loudly "I don't know what to do"

"Mike slow down what happened?" Aria asked swinging her legs out of the bed moving quickly towards the hallway "What's wrong?"

"There's been an accident! Mona and Tori were in a car accident"

"Are they okay?"

Silence filled the phone.

"Mike! Are Tori and Mona okay?" Aria yelled "Oh my god, Mike I'm coming I'll be there soon" She gasped running back towards her room

"Miranda, Miranda pick up the damn phone!" Emma whispered to herself "Hey Miranda are you awake?"

"I am no" She whined "Why the hell are you calling me so late?"

"Miranda, Tori and her mom were in a car accident"

"What! Is she okay? Please just tell me Tori's okay!" Miranda begged her voice cracking as her eyes sprouted tears

"I don't know, but you need to get your ass over here! We're going to New York!"

"It's gonna be alright" Mike promise taking her hand in his rubbing it with his the pad of his thumb "I'm gonna take care of you"

Aria gripped the wheel tightly, her heartbeat rapid as she thought of seeing her brother. It had been almost fifteen years since the last time she had seen him.

_Flashback_

_She was exhausted, all the energy she had drained from all the crying she had been doing. It was to much, being sad, saying goodbye for the final time, seeing her disappear into the ground. _

"_Are you ready?" Ezra asked stepping into the bedroom _

"_I can't do this" _

"_If you don't go, your gonna regret it" He said wrapping his arms around his wife "You take your time, I'll get Emma in the car" _

"_I love you" She mumbled against his chest "I love you more than I can say"_

"_I know honey" Ezra smiled holding her tighter "I love you to" _

_ The church was filled people sitting and standing in every corner. Her left hand held onto his her right hand carrying the car seat. Her eyes met with theirs, her heart jumped as she saw them. It was the thing she needed to get through the funeral, she needed them. _

"_Aria, how are you?" Spencer asked hugging the shorter girl _

"_Fine" She lied tearing dripping slowly from her eyes _

"_You don't need to pretend, we know this is really hard" Hanna said joining the hug _

"_I'm just trying to be strong for Mike you can't begin to imagine how hard this is for him" Aria explained _

"_You can't do that" Emily began leaning her head against Spencer's as she hugged the girls "You can't be there for everyone besides yourself" _

"_I.." Aria stuttered the tears falling faster "I just can't do this! I can't watch them put my mom into the ground" _

"_Aria" Mike said waling up to the girls "Can we talk?" _

"_Of course" She replied walking over to her brother "What do you need?"_

"_I'm leaving" He blurted out _

"_Leaving?" Aria repeated stunned _

"_Yea leaving, I don't want to be here, I don't need to see this" _

"_You're so selfish!" Aria yelled "How could you do that to mom?"_

"_Mom? Mom's dead!" Mike screamed walking briskly from the church never looking back _

"Mom are you okay?" Emma asked seeing a single tear stream down her cheek

"I'm okay"

"What are you thinking about?"

"My mother" Aria admitted "Hearing from Mike again, it's just making me miss her"

"It's gonna be okay" Emma smiled turning her head back to the road "And when I say that, I'm talking to both of you"

"You don't know that" Miranda whined her eyes still wet from her tears "Tori could be really hurt, or even worse!"

"Don't say that Miranda, I may not know Tori very well but I know her mother" Aria began "She is one of the strongest people I have ever met and I'm sure her daughter is the same. Tori is going to be just fine"

"Tori Montgomery!" Miranda yelled running up towards the front desk "Victoria Montgomery which room is she in?"

"Aria" Mike grinned making his way over to his sister pulling her into his embrace whispering something in her ear

"Oh my god" She cried covering her mouth with her hands

"Mom, what's wrong?" Emma asked

"Honey" She said slowly "Mona's gone"

"She's dead"

"Tori?" Miranda said quietly entering the hospital room "Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked pulling a chair next to bed

"I'm good" She smiled her fingers playing nervously with her IV

"I'm so glad to hear that" Miranda confessed reaching for Tori's hand

"What are you doing?" Tori asked pulling her hand away "Who are you?"

"Emma, it's me again. Where the hell are you? Please call me back" Noah whined stuffing his phone back into his pocket

"Trouble in paradise?" Amy laughed sitting beside Noah

"Do you have any idea where Emma is?"

"Damn I removed the GPS tracking system from her arm, if only you'd asked me yesterday"

"Smart-ass" Noah smiled getting to his feet

"Do you have plans?"

"I have a girlfriend" Noah said quickly

"I'm aware of that, I wanted to know if you wanted to go to a party"

"Whose party?"

"Some girl named Jordan Ackard" Amy explained "I met her at a track meet the other day"

"I don't know"

"Fine, sit here by yourself and mope in your own self-pity" Amy laughed walking towards the door

"Wait!" Noah called catching up to her "Only for a few hours"

The music blared through the house teenagers filling each inch of the rooms.

"Slow down superstar" Noah laughed losing his balance slightly

" …even..had that..much..to drink" Amy stuttered her glass held tightly in her hand "You've had more than me"

"No" Noah denied

"Liar" She giggled falling into Noah's arms "Opps"

"Opps" Noah repeated pulling her onto the dancefloor holding her tightly to his body

Before he knew what was happening his lips were on hers, his hands trailing down her shoulders resting on the curve in her back.

"Holy Shit!" Noah yelled waking up in the bed Amy snuggling closey to his side


	38. The Morning After

She was in the waiting room her head in her hands as the reality of the situation began to sink in. How could Tori not remember her? After everything they went through how could all those memories just be gone.

"Miranda" Emma said quietly sitting beside her friend "I got you a coffee"

"I don't want it" She mumbled

"I bought it so drink it!" Emma demanded shoving the cup in Miranda's face

She picked her head up taking the cup in her hand sipping it slowly.

"Are you okay?"

"Really" Miranda almost laughed "How could I be okay in this situation?"

"You need to calm down"

"Calm down! Calm down!" Miranda whined

"Yes Miranda, calm the hell down! You can't put yourself through this there is nothing you can do, Tori has to get through this with the help of her father, you can't always be her knight in shining armor"

"Are you telling me to leave Tori, to let her deal with this by herself?"

"No Miranda, you need to be in Tori's life, but I'm telling you to be there for her as a friend it's obviously too hard for you to see her like this" Emma explained

"I can't do that!" Miranda said "I can't let her go, I love her"

"I know you do but Miranda, what if she never remembers? What is she never remembers who you are or what you two were? How are you going to deal with that?"

"Crap!" He whined rolling out of the bed wrapping the blanket around his waist

"What the hell?" Amy moaned sitting up slowly her hand rubbing her throbbing forehead "Holy Crap!" she yelled her eyes finding Noah "Put a shirt on! Why are you naked!" she asked moving her eyes away from his toned chest

"Why are you!" He shot back pulling his shirt over his head hearing Amy shuffling quickly off the bed "We didn't do what I think we did right?"

"Oh God I hope not!" Amy said reaching for her t-shirt "I mean we didn't right?"

"I don't know, I can't even remember what happened last night" Noah admitted slipping into his jeans "I can't believe I did this"

"We" Amy corrected

"Hi Tori" Miranda greeted sadly walking towards her bed

"Hi…" She paused biting her bottom lip trying to remember the girls name "Miranda"

"Yea" Miranda smiled hearing Tori say her name "Are you doing any better?"

"I feel better, but I still can't remember what happened in the accident, and I don't know if I ever want to remember"

"Tori this is a terrible situation and I know it can be easy hearing people tell you that your mom is gone and that you've lost your memory"

"I haven't lost my memory" Tori interrupted "Not completely that is"

"Have you remembered me yet?" Miranda asked hopefully

"I know were friends, but I can't remember when we meet or things we liked to do"

"That's a shame, we liked doing a lot of fun things" Miranda confessed a small smiled growing on her face as she thought of Tori's lips on hers "Anyway I needed to tell you something"

"What is it?"

"Now this is gonna hurt me a lot more than it hurts you, even though I love you with all my heart and even though it kills me to say this but Tori, I need to leave, I need to let you go, there isn't anything I can do to help you, and if I stay I feel like I'd be waiting for something that would never happen" She wiped the tears from her eyes "I'm sorry Tori but this is goodbye" She leaned in kissing Tori gently on her forehead squeezing her hand tightly in her own

"Miranda" She looked into the blue eyes that stood before her something in her heart told her to stop the girl from leaving, something told her to hold onto the blue eyed blonde haired goddess as long as she could

"Goodbye Victoria" Miranda said letting go of Tori's hand

The drive home was long Miranda not speaking a single word her head leaning against the window as her ears filled with music.

"Miranda!" Emma yelled pulling Miranda from her music trance "Do you want to stop and get something to eat?"

"Not really, I want to get home and curl up in my bed. Are we almost there?"

"Few minutes" Emma said "Do you think it was a good idea for my mom to stay in New York?" Emma asked trying to break the silence

"I have no freaking clue" She whined plugging her headphones back in

"Miranda thank god!" Jess smiled watching Miranda walk up the driveway

"Why are you here?" She questioned tripping over herself

"Are you high?"

"What the hell? No!" Miranda yelled grabbing her keys

"Sorry, it's just your eyes are all puffy and red"

"Oh" Miranda said sarcastically "That's from all the crying, I guess I forgot to tell you Tori doesn't remember who I am, so we broke up"

"Oh my god, Miranda" Jess said her own tears beginning to form "Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't want to admit what was happening" She admitted feeling Jess' arms wrap around her

"Hey Noah it's me" Emma smiled into the phone as she walked into her bedroom "I know your pissed at me for missing our one month anniversary dinner, but I have a good reason I needed to help Miranda I'll explain later. But anyway call me, love you"

He listened to the message his heart filling with guilt as he felt it begin to crack. Once she heard what he did it would be over forever, there would be no going back from this. No matter what he did if she heard this, she would never forgive him.

"Amy it's me, please tell me you haven't told anyone" He asked

"Of course not"

"Good don't, we need to keep this between us"

"It's our secret"

"Our secret" Noah repeated

_**Question (answer in reviews) are you upset over Miranda and Tori's breakup?**_


	39. Overshadowed

"Do you need any help?" Hanna asked leaning her body against the bathroom door

"No" He moaned lifting the toothbrush to his mouth feeling the burn from his ribs ignite "I got it"

"Call me if you need me, okay?"

"Okay"

It still hurt. Everyday. Every inch of his body writhing in pain, each and every time he moved. His chest still wrapped up tightly, his arm laying in a sling, his face littered with scars from the attack. His parents continued their search for the culprit, little did they know Connor already knew who was behind the attack.

_Flashback_

_ He walked slowly to the parking lot, the money clutched tightly in his hand. It would soon be over, everything he had to do for them once he handed over the money, their control over him would end. _

"_You got the money?" He asked firmly crossing his muscular arms over his chest _

"_Yes" Connor replied his voice trembling "But once I give it to you, I'm out"_

"_Out?" The leader laughed grabbing the money "You're not out until I tell you you're out!" _

"_Screw you Seth!" Connor yelled trying to step away from the group _

"_What did you say to me?" _

"_I said screw you!" Connor repeated his legs shaking slowly beneath him _

_ Seth grabbed onto Connor's collar pulling him closely to his face _

"_Your gonna regret you said that!" _

_ In one quick movement Seth threw Connor onto the asphalt kicking him forcefully in the ribs, smiling towards his friends motioning for them to join him. Within seconds the group was on him kicking and punching him on every inch of his body, breaking his arm, nose and three ribs. Blood poured onto the ground as they stepped away smiles on their faces as they admired there work. _

"_Mention this to anyone, your sister will be next than your parents!" Seth laughed running from the parking lot _

"Mom!" Connor yelled his voice hoarse

"What's up?" Hanna grinned walking towards the bathroom "Do you need something?"

"I just wanted to tell you…." He paused his mind filled with thoughts of that night

"What is it Connor?"

"I just wanted to tell you, thank you for everything"

"You don't need to thank me I'm your mother, I'm just doing my job" She said giving Connor a gentle hug careful not to squeeze him to hard afraid she might hurt him

It still wasn't the same, being home. Coming home they treated her as if she was a glass doll, scared that everything they said would make her fall apart.

"Ella" Ezra said knocking quietly on her bedroom door "Ella?"

"Go away" she whined pulling the covers over her body drowning in the darkness of her room

"El, it's time to eat"

"I'm not hungry!"

"You've been in bed all day, you know you _have_ to go back to school tomorrow right?"

"I was at school last week" Ella complained "Do I really have to go back?"

"Honey, you _have_ to go back to school, you need to get an education" Ezra explained grabbing the blanket off of Ella "What's really going on?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"You can't avoid your problems" Ezra said "Please let me know how I can help you"

"I don't know" She admitted holding back her tears "Everything just seems so different"

"Different how?"

"No one at school talks to me they all think I'm a drug dealer, and all the teachers treat me like a basket case. I can't stand it!"

Ezra smiled "Ella, you can't let that bother you"

"But it does! Dad last week someone wrote 'speed freak' on my locker and the week before that someone a group of girls asked me if they could buy weed from me" Ella confessed wiping the tears that streamed from her face

"Ella" He said his own tears falling from his eyes "Baby" he took his daughter in his arms holding her tightly in his embrace

"What am I supposed to do?" She asked her head buried in her father's chest "How am I supposed to face all those people?"

"You'll get through this, I promise"

"So where does Jess think you are?" Ryan asked carrying a glass over to her brother

"Yale" Liam replied taking the glass from Ryan "When is he getting here?"

"Few minutes" Ryan admitted glancing quickly at her watch "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Ryan, of course I do! You told me you have a kid why wouldn't I want to meet him"

"It's just a lot to take in, I mean this is the reason Mom and Dad moved back to Rosewood, this is the reason I'm not a going to school to be a lawyer like mom wanted"

"Ryan that doesn't change anything I still want to meet my nephew" Liam smiled taking a sip of his water

Ryan paced nervously across her apartment her heart beating fast as she thought of Liam meeting Aaron. It was the first time Aaron would be meeting anyone from her family, expect for the one time he met Spencer and Toby.

"There here" Ryan said reading the message off her phone "Aaron!" Ryan smiled opening her door catching her son in her arms "How are you?"

"Hi mommy!" He greeted a small giggle escaping his mouth as Ryan tickled his stomach

"Hello Josh" Ryan said her smiled fading as she looked at the man in her doorway "Pick him up Tuesday?" She asked trying to keep the conversation short

"Sure, I'll see you then"

"Hey buddy" Liam grinned waving to the small boy

"Who are you?" Aaron asked his toy car held firmly in his hands

"Aaron this is my brother Liam"

"Liam!" Aaron repeated excitedly "That's my name to. Aaron Liam Kingston"

"You made his middle name Liam?"

"Couldn't think of a better name" Ryan smiled "Anyway, Aaron Liam's your Uncle and he wanted to meet you"

"Hi!" Aaron said loudly waving towards Liam "Do you want to play cars?"

"That sounds awesome!"

Watching Liam play with Aaron hurt her, causing her to think back to all the times she was forced to hide Aaron from not only Liam but everyone else in her family.

_Flashback _

"_Ryan why are you crying?" Spencer asked holding her in her arms "What's wrong?"_

"_I'm pregnant" _

"_Ryan" Spencer signed her tone indicating she was extremely disappointed _

"_I'm sorry" She apologized her cries muffled "I'm so sorry"_

"_I have to call your father" _

"_Mom please I didn't mean for this to happen" _

"_Ryan, please stop. I need to call your father" _

_ Their relationship was never the same after that day. Each time they talked her parents looking at her as if she was a failure, looking at her as if she was a disaster waiting to happen. Ever since she told them the news they began whispering never talking to her face but rather behind her back and behind closed doors, their conversations focused on the idea of sending her away._

"_You can't do that!" Ryan begged _

"_What else can we do?" Toby asked "We don't want you having to deal with the social stigma that occurs from a teen pregnancy"_

"_And sending me to Aunt Melissa for nine months is gonna help?" _

"_Ryan please understand were just trying to help you" _

"_This isn't helping me this is sending me away to save yourself from the judgment of other people!" _

"_Ryan" Toby began "We don't love you any less, but once this is over with you can…"_

"_Over with?" Ryan asked "I'm not putting my baby up for adoption I'm keeping it"_

"_Ryan your 15!" Spencer said angrily _

"_I'm turning 16 next month!"_

"_That doesn't make you an adult!"_

"_You know what, your right maybe I do need to live with Aunt Melissa, I'd rather live with her than you!" Ryan screamed running away from her parents _

"That's why you were never around when I was little?" Liam asked after hearing his sister's story

"Like I said it was never the same, we never came back from it"

"Did they ever meet Aaron?"

"Only once when he was about 2, they came to see him on his birthday"

"How old is he now?" Liam asked looking over towards Aaron

"5" Ryan smiled "He's getting so big"

"I don't understand" Liam confessed "How could they have been so hard on you when you were pregnant but when I told them about Jess they were so understanding and told me to make sure I was there for her"

"Maybe they've learned from their mistakes, they can't afford to lose another kid"

"Have you ever thought about talking to them about it? I mean why don't you ever bring Aaron over?"

"I've tried to talk to them about it but whenever I bring it up, someone always changes the subject" Ryan explained taking a seat on the couch "They just pretend Aaron doesn't exist" she said lowering her voice so Aaron couldn't hear

"That's bullshit!" Liam whined

"Mom! Liam said a bad word!" Aaron pointed out

"Liam!" Ryan said firmly "Language"

"Sorry but I can't help it, how can you be okay with Mom and Dad ignoring your son?"

"I'm not okay with it"

"Then do something about it! When I leave tomorrow you and Aaron should come with me, Mom and Dad will fall in love with him. I promise"


	40. Back To Rosewood

_**Question (answer in reviews): What characters do you want to read more about?**_

He stuffed the last of his boxes inside the truck slamming the door closed placing the lock onto the door. He didn't want to leave but he knew it would be the best for Tori, he knew being around familiar faces would make it easier for her.

"Are you ready Vict.." He began "I mean Tori"

"I guess" She frowned grabbing her bag and sliding into the car "And you can call me Victoria"

"You remember, telling me not to call you that?" Mike asked

"Of course I do, why wouldn't I?" She whined reaching for her headphones

"No reason" He said a small smile growing on his face as he realized her memory was slowly returning

She played nervously with her top desperate to hide the small bump that was starting to form.

"Why even bother?" Noah asked leaning in her doorway "Amy already told the school"

"Noah, people still don't know if they should believe it or not, I'm just trying to put the rumor to rest"

"It's not a rumor. You are pregnant" Noah laughed "And hate to break it to you but in a few more month you won't be able to hide that bump"

"Is that a fat joke?" Jess asked turning away from the mirror pulling a sweater over her head

"No, I was…I" He stuttered

"I'm joking" Jess admitted "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing" Noah lied fidgeting by the door

"You're lying to me, what did you do?"

"You have to promise you won't tell Emma" Noah begged

"Son of a bitch! You cheated on her!" Jess said her mouth hanging opened "With who?"

"Amy" Noah confessed his voice cracking

"Amy!" Jess repeated angrily "Amy! You had sex with Amy!"

"That's not the worst part"

"What's the…" Jess fell onto her chair "Oh my god! Amy was your first time, wasn't she?"

"Yea" Noah said holding his head in his hands "I can't believe I did this, what do I do? Should I tell her?"

"Do you love her?" Jess asked

"Of course I do, I mean I think I do, No no! I do love her"

"If you love you then you need to tell her, she deserves to know the truth and it would sound a hell a lot better coming from you than from Amy"

"She'll hate me" Noah whined "If I tell her she'll never forgive me, I barely got her forgive me last time I hurt her"

"You asked for my advice, that's what I think you should do, you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to"

"Your right, I won't listen to you"

"Emma!" Aria yelled up the stairs "Your gonna be late!"

"I'm coming!" She said zipping up her boots "Hey Mom" she called running downstairs

"What's up?" Aria asked passing her daughter a cup of coffee

"Do you think I could add more color to my hair?"

"What color were you thinking?"

"I don't know, maybe some pink highlights" Emma said sipping her drink

"Pink?"

"Yea, you don't like that"

"No I love it" Aria smiled "In fact when I was in high school I had pink highlights for a while"

"I know I saw a picture I thought it looked cool" Emma admitted twirling her hair through her fingers "And plus I think it'll look good with my red highlights"

"I think it will to, now get going!"

"I'm going, bye Mom" she smiled hugging her mother before running out the door

She tied her hair up quickly slipping her sneakers on not caring what she looked like, not caring what people thought about her.

"Miranda" Hanna said watching her daughter rush past her "Honey"

"What" She snapped

"You're going to school dressed like that?" She asked looking at Miranda's grey sweats and white t-shirt

"Does it matter?" Miranda whined

"Honey, is this about Tori?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Miranda, you're not gonna feel like this forever" Hanna said

"Mom, no offense but I don't really need advice on my breakup"

"I understand"

"Okay" Miranda said "Emma's here, I have to go. Tell Connor I said bye"

She put the sunglasses on her face blocking the sun's rays from burning her eyes walking slowly towards the car.

"Hey loser get in were going shopping" Emma yelled out the window

"Did you watch Mean Girls again?" Miranda asked jumping into the passenger seat

"Last night" Emma admitted a smile emerging on her face "Twice"

"Obsessed much, oh can you pick Jess up? She said Noah wouldn't give her a ride something about him being mad at her for giving crappy advice"

"No problem"

"Wow"

"Wow what?"

"You didn't roll your eyes or whine about not wanting to be in the same room as her"

"I'm moving past my hatred for Jessica Kahn"

"Oh Emma you've finally matured" Miranda giggled

"Shut up! Go back to whining about your breakup"

"Urggg" Miranda whined "I how bitchy you could be"

"Very funny"

Jess waited anxiously on her driveway, her mind swirling with the secret Noah had just confessed to her. It was too big a secret to keep to herself, she needed to tell someone. She needed to tell Miranda and hopefully Miranda would tell Emma, Emma deserved to know what Noah did. It was the right thing to do, wasn't it?

"Miranda hey!" Jess greeted walking swiftly towards the car "Oh, hi Emma"

"I hope it's okay, my dad needed to borrow my car for work" Miranda explained

"It's not a problem" Jess lied climbing into the backseat

"Emma! Emma!" Noah called running towards her in the hallway "Emma!" he yelled again grabbing her shoulder

"Noah? Oh I didn't hear you" She smiled ripping the headphones from her ears

"It's okay" He said kissing her cheek "I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang out later?"

"I don't know, Miranda and I were gonna go to a movie"

"You're hanging out with Miranda again?"

"Yea were trying to help her through her breakup" Emma explained

"Were?"

"Me and Jess, oh I forgot she's going to the movie to"

"JESS!" Noah almost yelled "Your friends with Jess now"

"I wouldn't exactly call us friends but we don't hate each other"

"I don't think you should hang out with Jess, she's not really a good person" Noah said hoping he would convince Emma to stay away from Jess

"Noah I expecting you to understand why am hanging out with Jess, she's going through a lot right now"

"You know?"

"Of course I know, the entire school knows" Emma began "She slept with Liam and then Liam blew her off because she thought she was pregnant"

"Right…" Noah said slowly realizing Emma hadn't heard the true story

"Anyway, maybe we can hang out tomorrow"

"Sounds good" He smiled giving her another quick kiss "I'll call you"

"I'll answer" She grinned watching Noah walk down the hall disappearing into his classroom

"Miranda" Jess whispered pulling her into the bathroom checking the stalls to make sure they were alone "I need to tell you something"

"You make it sound so bad" Miranda observed "It's not as bad as the time you told me you were pregnant right?"

"Actually it may be worse" Jess admitted "Noah told me that he…"

"He cheated on Emma" Miranda finished

"You knew?"

"I figured it out"

"How the hell do you figure something like that out?" Jess asked

"Ummm…" Miranda stuttered "I went to a party over the weekend and kind of got drunk, and Amy happened to be there and she was drunk and she might have said something about sleeping with Noah"

"If you knew why didn't you tell her?" Jess asked

"If I told her I heard it from Amy when we were both drunk at a party there's no way she would have believed me"

"Speaking of being drunk, why the hell were you at that party?"

"I was invited"

"By who? You're not friends with any popular people, well except for me and my popularity has gone down quite a bit since the beginning of the year"

"Jess you're so modest" Miranda joked reaching into her bag

"Seriously who invited you?"

"Jordan Ackard"

"Oh I know her, she goes to Scared Heart in Brookhaven why would she invite you? How do you even know her?"

"I met her at a party" Miranda admitted pulling a flask from her bag taking a large sip

"Miranda! Are you seriously drinking at school" She said shocked grabbing the flask from her friend

"Sorry Mom" Miranda whined wiping the alcohol from her lips

"Miranda what the hell is going on with you? Since when do you party all weekend and drink at school, is this because of Tori?" Jess asked pouring the flask out in the sink

"No!" Miranda yelled "Why does everyone think that everything I'm doing has to do with Tori!"

"Because it does and you know it! You're still pissed at yourself for breaking up with her and your still pissed at her for forgetting about you! Miranda there's nothing you can do to help her"

"Why do you keep telling me that! If I stayed in New York I could have helped her remember I could have helped her get through losing her mother, I mean how could I have done that to her! I left her after she was in a car accident where her mom died. What kind of person am I"

"The kind of person that is willing to have their heartbroken if it means helping the person you love" Jess said "Although you hate to admit it, breaking up with Tori was the best thing you could do for her, if you stayed with her it wouldn't just be hurting you that she couldn't remember it would be hurting her, she would be reminded every day that she was in love with someone, but that she's lost those feelings"

"You suck" Miranda groaned leaning against the wall sliding her body into the floor

"You suck to" Jess smiled joining her friend on the cool bathroom floor "You just have to realize that if your love for Tori is true it'll work out, but for now you just have to move on"

"I've tried" She blurted out her eyes becoming wide as she realized what she had said

"Explain please"

"I…" she stammered "When I was at Jordan's party I kind of sort of made out with Emmerson" Miranda admitted her eyes drifting towards the floor

"Emmerson? As in Emmerson?" Jess asked shocked

"Yes Emmerson, please don't be mad at me! I know he's your ex and ex's are like off limits but"

"It's not that it's just,"

"Just what?"

"He's a guy"

"And?" Miranda asked

"Aren't you into girls? I mean you dated a girl"

"I don't know" Miranda whined slamming her head against the wall "I was in love with…" she paused avoiding her name "A girl, and then I made out with a guy. I just don't know what I want"

Jess smiled "Miranda" she laughed

"This isn't funny!"

"It may not be funny but it's pretty damn obvious, all you want is love" Jess explained

"I freaking hate love!"

"Don't say that, you'll find love again"

"I don't want to" Miranda confessed riffling through her bag "Falling in love leads to heartbreak"

"Really!" Jess said "You brought two flasks to school!"

"I'm dealing with a lot right now"

"So am I" Jess said loudly pointing towards her stomach

"Did you want some?" Miranda laughed "Right you can't"

"You're a bitch" Jess whined getting to her feet

"I'm sorry, I just don't know any other way to deal with this pain"

"Meet someone new" Jess said "That's what will help you get over….." she paused her eyes focused on the door

"Get over?"

"Tori" She finished looking towards the girl

"Hi" She greeted waving "Your Jess right?"

"TORI!" Miranda yelled jumping to her feet spilling her flask onto the floor

"Hey Miranda" She smiled "What's up?"

"Tori" She repeated her voice cracking as she said her name "Your back?"


	41. I Think It Is

It had been a week since her uncomfortable encounter with Miranda. She could tell that Miranda was still mad at her for forgetting about there friendship, or whatever it was. Deep down Tori could tell there was something more between them, there was something different about the way Miranda looked at her, the way she said her name. There was something different.

"Thinking about joining?" Emma asked seeing Tori's eyes glued to the flyer

"What?" She said pulled from her thoughts "No, probably not"

"Why not? Lacrosse is so much fun, plus you'd make a lot of new friends"

"I do need to make more friends, Miranda still hasn't spoken to me" Tori explained

"Well" Emma grinned grabbing a pen from her pocket "Sign up, I'm on the team so you'll already have one friend"

"Thanks" Tori smiled quickly signing her name "Wait!" She called causing Emma to stop dead in her tracks "Can I ask you something?"

"What's up?"

"Is Miranda okay?" Tori began "I mean is she…"

"She's going through a lot right now, you and her were really…" she paused searching for the right word "You two were really close and now it's like you never knew each other"

"Oh"

"Tori, hey" Emma said seeing Tori's disappointed face "You don't have to feel guilty about this, it wasn't your fault that you were in a freaking car accident that gave you brain damage okay!"

"Okay, but I don't think I can stand seeing someone so upset because of me"

"If you want to make Miranda happy, I have an idea" Emma smiled

Jess sped down the hall feeling small beads of sweat dripping down her face. If what she heard was true she needed to find him before he did anything worse.

"Liam!" She yelled pulling him into an empty classroom "What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"Your sister's son? Why the hell would you bring him here? Do you understand how this is gonna affect us? Your parents aren't gonna allow me in your house if they already have one kid to deal with" Jess explained

"Jess how could you be mad at me for this! I'm doing the responsible thing, I'm trying to be there for my sister!"

"I just don't know why you didn't tell me!" Jess screamed

"That's what I was gonna say" Someone interrupted approaching the pair "Jess can we talk?"

"Not now" She whined her eyes moving over towards the student "Emmerson!"

"Can we?"

"Ummm…."

"I have to go anyway" Liam whined storming from the classroom

"What do you want? If this is about the rumors around school…."

"It's not that, Jess I'm still in love with you!"

Tori waited nervously her body leaning against the cold wall counting as the minute's passes by her eyes scanning the halls for her.

"Oh sorry" Miranda apologized as she bumped into someone

"It's not the first time someone's bumped into me today" Tori smiled "Hey, I'm Tori"

"I know" Miranda said sadly "Have you forgotten that we've met?"

"I'm not an idiot, I know that we know each other and I know you're pissed at me for forgetting so I'm recreating the moment we met" Tori grinned pushing up her glasses

"Who told you about the first time we meet?" Miranda blushed

"Emma asked Jess, apparently all your friends want us to be friends again"

"Well Jess has her information wrong"

"What do you mean?" Tori asked crossing her arms over her chest

"This is was the first time we officially meet, but the first time I saw you was in the parking lot on your first day of school" Miranda admitted "I got to school late and I ran into someone in the parking lot as I was running for the building, that someone just so happened to be you"

"So do we just always bump into each other?" Tori laughed twisting her hair nerously around her finger

"Always"

"Well?" Emmerson asked "Please just tell me you feel the same way"

"I…" she stuttered "I'm with Liam" "

"Jess!" Emma yelled bursting into the room "It worked there talking, oh sorry" she said shyly seeing Jess in the middle of a conversation "Jess are you okay?" Emma asked seeing the color drain from the blonde's face

"Fine" she mumbled feeling her knees go weak as she tumbled towards the ground

"Call 911!" Emma yelled falling to Jess' side "Now!"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Emmerson call 911 NOW!" Emma screamed louder

It was quiet the lights in the room dim as she laid in the small bed a needle embedded in her hand the silent sound of a machine tracking her heartbeat.

"What the hell?" She whined

"Honey don't worry, it's okay" Alison said calmly "You fainted at school, the doctors said it could be releated to stress, but you're going to be just fine"

"Where is he?" She asked her eyes closing slowly

"In the waiting room, do you want me to bring him in?"

"Yea" Jess whispered quietly "Please"

"Connor wait is it that you wanted to tell us?" Hanna asked watching her son pace quickly across the living room

"I remember who jumped me, I know who did it"

"Who did it!" Caleb questioned angrily

"Seth…Seth Jacobs"

Ella stuffed her bag filling it with everything she needed, everything she didn't want to leave behind.

"Are you ready?" Aria asked walking slowly into her daughter's bedroom desperately holding back her tears

"Almost, I just need a few more minutes"

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Mom, I'm not like Emma I'm not strong, I can't deal with anymore bullying. This may not be the easiest thing to do but it's the best because I know if I stay here, I won't be able to last" Ella explained quickly zipping her bag "It's not like you won't see me I'll be back for holidays and you can always come up to visit"

"I know, I know" Aria said wiping her tears "I just don't know what I'm gonna do when I don't see your smiling face in the morning, and hearing your corny jokes during dinner"

"Mom ever since rehab, I haven't been the same, and after everyone at school heard no one's treated me the same, I want to go somewhere where I can start over, where no one knows me or my history. I want a new beginning"

"If that's what you want, that's what you'll get"

"I'm ready" Ella smiled pulling the suitcase off of her bed

"You said goodbye to your father before he went ot work right?" Aria asked

"Of course, but I haven't said bye to Emma yet. Now that I think about it I don't think she'll want to talk to me" Ella frowned walking from her room making her way to the front door

"Why would you think that?" Aria questioned grabbing her car keys "You sister loves you"

"I know see loves me it's just that she did everything she could to protect me and to save me, but it still wasn't enough. I think she's mad at me for not being strong enough to fight the addiction"

"Ella you need to say goodbye, if you don't you'll regret it"

"Your preganat?" His voice cracked as he spoke the sentence "The rumors are true?"

"Emmerson?" Jess said surprised her eyes flying opened as she heard his voice "Why are you here?"

"You mom told me to come in, don't change the subject"

"Yes, I'm pregnant"

"Why wouldn't you tell me!" He yelled falling into the chair that rested beside the hospital bed

"Why would I?"

"You know why! Jess is that the reason you didn't tell me?"

"I don't know what your talking about" Jess lied

"Jess are you or are you not pregnant with my baby?"

"I think…." She stuttered slowly "I think I am"

"Hey, why don't you go in?" Alison asked

"Suddenly I'm not feeling very well" He said "Just give these to her and tell her that I came by"

"Of course, I'll see you later" She smiled reaching for the flowers "It was nice seeing you Liam"

"You to Mrs. Khan" He moaned feeling his eyes become wet as the tears dripped down his face

He heard every word she had said, everything she had been keeping from him. How the hell could she have gone almost three months without telling him that she thought the baby was someone else's, how the hell could she have lied to him about only sleeping with one person!


	42. Look Me In The Eyes

There she sat her blue eyes shining brightly from the reflection of the television, her dark hair pulled back into a braid which draped down the right side of her face, new glasses sitting on her nose the thick back frames giving her the popular hipster look, a thin scar lining the top of her lip that she so desperately wished to kiss.

"Are you gonna stop staring at me anytime soon?" Tori laughed turning her attention away from the TV

"I'm sorry, it's just that.."

"Yea I know, the freaking accident made me look hideous but, there's nothing I can do about that"

"Don't say that" Miranda began moving closer to Tori "You're not hideous, your one of the most beautiful people I have ever seen, your perfect and don't you ever think differently"

"How do you do that?" Tori grinned leaning her head onto Miranda's shoulder

"Do what?" She stuttered feeling the younger girl's warmth on her body

"How do you always know the right thing to say?"

"I learned from the best" Miranda smiled "I learned from you"

"Are you sure that it was Seth?" Toby asked "Seth Jacobs?"

"I'm sure"

"Connor I just don't understand why Seth Jacobs would go after you"

"Why?" Hanna said confused

"Seth Jacobs is a known member of a gang down in Brookhaven" Toby explained

"Connor, why would a gang attack you?" Caleb asked angrily

"Because I was kind of a part of it"

"What!" The adults yelled together

"Jess, please tell me this isn't true. Tell me I'm not the father of your baby!" Emmerson begged

"I don't know! All I know is we slept together and then a few weeks later I slept with Liam" She said dropping her head into her hands

"Oh my god!" Emmerson yelled "How can you be such a whore! You don't even know who the father of your baby is!"

"Shut the hell up!" Jess screamed "You can't judge me for this, I wouldn't have slept with Liam if we didn't break up!"

"You're the one who wanted to break up!"

"And I had a good reason! You cheated on me, TWICE!" Jess shouted

"Is everything okay in here?" The doctor asked making his way over towards Jess and Emmerson

"Fine" Jess lied crossing her arms over her chest

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting but I just came to check up on you and your baby" He explained setting up the ultrasound "Ready?"

"Ready" Jess repeated shooting an angry glance towards Emmerson "Are you staying or going?"

"Going" He whined walking towards the door stopping as he grabbed the door knob hearing the quiet sound of the child's heartbeat

"There's you baby" the doctor smiled pointing out the small shadow

"Oh my god" Jess gasped feeling tears drip from her eyes

"That's amazing" Emmerson admitted swiftly moving back towards Jess taking her hand in his

"How many weeks?" Jess asked hoping to confirm that the baby was in fact Liam's

"About 13 weeks"

"13 weeks?" Jess repeated her voice cracking

"Jess it's mine isn't it" Emmerson said gripping her hand tighter

She didn't speak only slowly nodding her head feeling her heart break inside her chest as she thought of losing Liam.

"Do you know if it's a girl or a boy?" Emmerson asked curiously

"It looks as if it's a…" the doctor began

"Connor what do you mean you were a part of the gang?" Caleb asked

"Over the summer I meet someone and she introduced me to her brother Seth, the three of us started hanging out and after a few weeks Seth invited me to join his group" Connor explained "He said that the group could use someone like me someone smart who knew how to hack stuff"

"Connor why would you do that!" Hanna said

"That doesn't matter right now" Toby began "Connor what did you do in the gang, what did they ask you to do?"

"They wanted me to hack into DMV's, you know getting restricted information, stealing VIN numbers but I knew it was wrong and I tried to get out but they found me and forced me to pay back the money they were losing"

"How did you make the money?" Caleb asked

"I…" he stuttered "I blackmailed Miranda, Jessica and Liam"

"You blackmailed my son?"

"Not exactly but, I sold some of his secrets to people" Connor confessed

"Connor!" Hanna yelled "How could you do this! Why wouldn't you come to us, we could have helped you!"

"He threatened to hurt you if I told"

"Toby please tell me there's something you can do about this" Caleb begged

"I may be able to track Seth down but, Connor I need you to tell me who his sister is"

"Mom" Amy groaned shuffling through the grocery store "Are we almost done?"

"Almost" Emily smiled throwing the tub of peanut butter into the shopping cart "We just need a few more things"

"That's what you said five minutes ago, I'm so bored"

"You didn't need to come, it's a Friday night you should be out with your friends"

"Mom I already told you I don't have any friends, because everyone hates me" Amy whined "Kidding" she admitted seeing Emily's unamused face

"Emily" Someone said her tone indicating that she was surprised "Hi"

"Alison…" Emily felt her heart begin to race not knowing what to say "Amy could you grab the rest of this stuff?" she asked passing her daughter the list "I'll be there in a minute"

"Sure" Amy said slowly knowing that something strange was going on

"Em" Alison began

Emily desperately held back her smile as she heard her old nickname come from Alison's mouth

"We need to talk"

"I can't" Emily admitted

"We need to, I can't go another day keeping this inside"

"Alison please, just leave this alone Paige already hates you if she knows what happened she'll never forgive me"

"Emily, I can never forgive myself either! I can't forgive myself for letting you slip from my fingers in high school. I can never forgive myself for being too afraid to admit how I felt when we were younger! Emily for Christ's sake I can't forgive myself for being completely head over heels in love with you!"

"Alison stop it" Emily begged turning away from the blonde

"I can't stop it! Emily if I could stop feeling like this don't you think I would, if I could stop feeling heartbroken every time I see you and Paige I would, if I could stop this continuous pain I feel in my heart I would!"

"Alison please, you can't do this. I'm married! I love Paige"

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't have feelings for me" Alison said watching as Emily avoided eye contact

"Mom" Amy said quietly walking up behind her "I got everything"

"Good" Emily replied putting on a fake smile "Let's go"

"Paige what's going on?" Emily asked as she arrived home quickly walking towards the living room

"Amy" Toby began "Were going to have to take you down to the station"

"I don't understand, what's going on?" Amy asked

"Toby what are you doing?" Emily questioned angrily

"Emily, Paige, we've been investigating the attack on Connor Rivers and it turns out he was jumped by a gang, a gang run primarily by Seth Jacobs"

Amy let out a small gasp "You're not going to arrest him are you!"

"Amy, who is Seth?" Paige asked

"Seth is Amy's half-brother"

_**Question: Should Jess' baby be a girl or a boy?**_


	43. Shattered

Her hands rested on the cool metal table her mind spinning with thoughts, what was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to explain this? How was she supposed to get out of this situation?

"Are you ready to talk?" Toby asked walking slowly towards the table

"I'm not sure what you want me to say"

"Tell him the truth" Emily begged "Tell them you had nothing to do with this"

"Amy all we want is to find the people that hurt Connor Rivers and if you know something we need you to tell us"

"Amy please" Paige said her hands intertwining with each other on top of the table waiting desperately for her daughter to speak up

"I know who attacked Connor, I've known ever since it happened, I know why Connor was attacked and I know where, I know everything about that night because I was there" She admitted

"Amy!" Paige and Emily shouted together

"I need you two to leave the room so I can talk to Amy, please"

Paige and Emily reluctantly left the room waiting anxiously outside the door hoping for any and all news.

"Emily!" Alison said rushing towards her side "I heard what happened is everything alright?"

"Its fine, Amy just needed to answer some questions" Emily explained

"Good, when Aria called me and said Amy was brought into the station I thought something might have happened to you" Alison continued ignoring Paige's angry stares

"Well I'm okay. For now at least, thanks for checking in, it means a lot" Emily admitted her smile now overpowering her

"You don't need to thank me" she grinned pulling Emily into a loose hug "I would do anything for you" she whispered quietly in her ear making sure Paige didn't hear "It was good seeing you Paige"

"You to" Paige lied watching Ali strut from the police station "What the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why was she here? You called Aria, Spencer and Hanna and none of them came here, you didn't even call Alison why the hell did she come here?"

"She's a friend she wanted to make sure everything was okay, if Aria or Hanna came down here you wouldn't be freaking out like this. So just calm down"

"As far as I know you were never in love with Aria or Hanna"

"As far as you know?" Emily repeated angrily "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're expecting me to be okay with you still being friends with your ex"

"What's wrong with that? Like you said were just friends!" Emily yelled

"Fine, maybe I'll just start hanging out with my exes"

"Too bad your only ex-girlfriend is dead" Emily said quietly hoping Paige didn't hear

"You bitch!" Paige whined "How dare you throw that in my face after all these years, how dare you!"

"How dare I? How dare you, you're mad at me for being friends with Alison"

"You don't know who she is!"

Emily dropped into a chair her head falling into her hands "I don't know who she is" she almost laughed "I don't know! How could you say I don't know who she is! I know what type of person Alison is, Alison is the type of person who had to go into hiding for years, the type of person who was tormented and stalked for years, Alison is the type of person who would put her own life in danger if it meant protecting her friends, I admit Alison is a mean person at times but underneath all of that she was, no she is one of the strongest, caring and selfless people I have ever meet, and don't you dare say I don't know her"

"Emily, Paige" Toby called awkwardly obviously overhearing the conversation that had just taken place "I have some new information"

"What is it that you needed to talk about? Noel asked pulling the apron from around his waist carrying the plates full of food towards the table

"You didn't have to go through all this trouble" Alison said feeling her guilt begin to grow

"Please it isn't every day that we have the house to ourselves" Noel grinned planting a quick kiss on her nose "Noah's on his date with Emma and Jess is over at Tori's house. We should celebrate our quiet time"

"Noel please stop" Alison almost yelled "Listen what I'm about to tell you is hard and I don't want you to freak out"

"Who was it" Noel asked cutting her off

"What?"

"Was it Emily?" He asked holding back his tears "It was wasn't it"

"I'm so sorry"

"You don't need to apologize" He said wiping a tear from his cheek "A part of me knew you were still in love with her, a part of me knew you would always love her, I was just always in the way"

"Don't say that Noel, I love you just as much as I love Emily"

"Then why are you choosing her? Why are you putting us through this?" Noel yelled

"Because! What I feel for Emily is different than what I feel for you!"

"How could you say it's different when you just said you love me just as much as you love her?"

"Noel you don't understand, Emily was my first love, my first kiss, she was my first everything and nothing will ever change that. Emily has a hold on my heart that will never go away. No matter how much I love you or how much you love me nothing will ever come close to the way I feel with Emily"

"I get it….I always thought you two would end up together, back in high school I would see the way Emily looked at you and I would see the way you looked at Emily and I just wished that one day you would turn around and see that I was looking at you that same way. Alison I've been in love with you since the 7th grade, I will always love you, and all I want is for you to be happy and if you're not happy with me there's nothing I can do about that"

"Noel, please I'm so sorry" Alison mumbled in between her falling tears

"So am I" he groaned getting to his feet storming out of the room locking himself in his study leaving Alison alone at the table

"I still don't understand" Paige admitted "I didn't even know she had a half-brother"

"As far as we know a year or two before Amy was born and put up for adoption her birth mother lost custody of her son Seth, how they found each other is still a mystery" Toby explained

"Amy is this true?" Emily asked turning her attention towards her daughter "Why wouldn't you tell us?"

"Mom I wanted to tell you but I didn't think you would approve, over the summer I went searching for my birth mother and I found out about Seth"

"Honey if you wanted to find your birth mother I wouldn't be against it, I would have helped you"

"I know you would have, but if I told you I wanted to meet my birth mother I thought it might upset you, I thought you might have felt like I didn't love you as much"

"Amy nothing you do could ever make us love you any less" Emily said pulling her daughter into a hug

"I know that now, and I can't tell you how sorry I am for getting us into this mess" Amy apologized falling back down into her chair her tears flowing faster down her face

"What's going to happen now?" Paige asked looking desperately towards Toby

"The worst case scenario is Amy could be sentenced to juvenile detention for a year or more depending on how many people she convinced to join the gang" Toby explained

"Oh my god!" Emily gasped "You can't do that to her, she didn't know what she was doing!"

"Emily it's not up to me, it's up to a judge, but like I said that's the worst case scenario, best case would be that Amy has to do ten to twelve months of community service"

"What can we do to make sure Amy only gets community service?" Paige asked walking to her daughter's side draping her arm across her shoulder

"The only thing I can tell you is get a good lawyer and pray that things go your way" Toby said opening the door "Your free to go, thank you for all the help"

"Amy," Emily called quietly "Were going"

"I just need a minute" She said through her cries

"We'll meet you by the car"

"You have to run! Please they know it's you, they know what you did there coming to find you. Please just go" Amy begged her phone held tightly to her ear

"Damn" Miranda groaned glancing at her watch "It's almost 11 I have to go, my parents will kill me if I break curfew again"

"Boo!" Tori laughed screwing the top back onto her nail polish careful not to mess up her nails "Can't you stay a little longer?"

"I can't my parents are really cracking down ever since Connor's accident, but we can hang out tomorrow" Miranda smiled

"Adios bitch" Jess chuckled

"Bye Mira" Tori waved watching as Miranda made her way to the door

"Goodbye" Miranda grinned hearing her old nickname realizing that Tori's memories seemed to be coming back in small pieces

The cold night air send shivers up her spine as she stepped outside walking quickly down the street. She was almost there when she felt someone's hands wrap around her mouth pulling her down into the trunk of a car.


	44. Taken

_**Warning get ready for waterworks this is the beginning of an extremely sad storyline **_

There was no light, only darkness. Darkness everywhere, surrounding her as she sat in the unfamiliar place. She felt her heart race as she heard the footsteps approach the chair she was strapped to. His dark hair slicked back a scar on his left cheek, a sickening smile on his face, she could almost sense the evil inside him.

"Hello Miranda" He greeted his deep voice sending chills up her arms "We haven't officially meet but you know of me, my name is Seth I'm a friend of Connor's"

It finally clicked this was the guy who beat Connor up, she struggled against the ropes that held her in place feeling the coarse texture rub her wrists raw as blood began to drip towards the floor.

"Now, now. You don't need to be afraid" He laughed reaching into his pocket "I'm going to take the tape of your mouth now, but if you scream you'll regret it" He warned flashing a pocket knife

She nodded slowly her breathing becoming rapid as he brought the knife closer to her face resting the cold blade against her cheek.

"Brett" Seth called turning away from Miranda "Bring me the phone"

A younger boy with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes entered from the shadows he looked as if he was only 12 years old, his face desolate and scared as if he wished he could be anywhere but here.

"Why are you doing this?" Miranda whined as the tape was pulled from her mouth "Why?"

"I warned your brother, I told him if he ratted me or my boys out there would be hell to pay"

"Please don't do this" Miranda begged as she felt the knife run along her forehead "Please"

"You can beg as much as you want, but I warned your asshole of a brother and yet he still turned on me, and now you're paying for his mistake" Seth grinned slicing above Miranda's eye watching as blood dripped down to her chin "Now call your brother and tell him to find you"

"No!" Miranda screamed knowing that if Connor came down here Seth would hurt him more than she could even imagine

"How about now?" Seth asked mimicking the action above her other eye

"No!"

"Screw you, I've got all the time in the world!" Seth shouted disappearing into the shadows reappearing a moment later with a metal bat a sickening smile glued to his face as he struck her leg with it repeatedly until he heard it crack laughing as she cried out in pain

"God damn it!" She screamed feeling the burning sensation shoot throughout her leg

"No screaming, we wouldn't want anyone knowing that you were here now would we" Seth laughed taping Miranda's mouth shut once again

"Liam please, call me back I need to talk to you. It's extremely important!" Jess explained leaving Liam a seventh voicemail

"He didn't answer?" Noah asked leaning in his usual spot in Jess's doorway

"No" She whined throwing herself onto her bed "Why the hell isn't he answering!"

"How am I supposed to know, anyway Dad wants to know if you're ready"

"Ready?"

"Yeah ready, are you packed were going into the city to visit grandma and grandpa Khan"

"I don't want to visit them, they don't even know I'm pregnant"

"Jess that's not the reason were going there and you know it" Noah began "Were going because Mom and Dad are fighting"

"There fighting!" Jess asked shocked sitting up on her bed her eyes staring straight at her brother

"Hells yea, can't you tell Dad's been sleeping on the couch and Mom hasn't been eating dinner with us"

"It's only been like a day, how can you tell?"

"Because I can" Noah said "I'll tell Dad that you're not feeling up to it, I'll see you in a few days"

"See ya"

She waited anxiously her heart beating faster as she thought of seeing her. It was weird every time she saw her something inside her changed, every time she saw her she felt better.

"Hey Em" Tori grinned climbing into the car "You didn't pick Miranda up yet?"

"I figured she was here" Emma said "She wasn't at home"

"Maybe she's at Jess's"

"Maybe" Emma said quickly dialing Jess' number "Hey Jess is Miranda there?"

"No, I thought she was going out with you and Tori"

"That's what I thought but she isn't with us and she isn't at home"

"Damn, this isn't like the time we ran away is it?" Jess whined

"She ran away before" Tori and Emma said together

"Crap I forgot you weren't there, and Tori you don't remember. Anyway come pick me up with deal with it together"

Her tears continued to stream down her face as she felt the pain in her leg increase every minute.

"Are you okay?" Brett whispered "Do you need anything?"

She fought against the tape desperate to speak but her words only coming out as unrecognizable mumbles.

"I'm sorry"

"Brett!" Seth shouted storming over to the pair "What do you think you're doing? I told you to watch her not talk to her"

"I didn't mean to…I'm sorry" He stuttered

"Get the hell out of my face!" He ordered pushing the young boy forcefully in the chest "Now back to you, are you going to call your brother now?" He asked pulling the tape from her mouth

"No way in hell"

"Are you positive?" He smiled leaning his hand onto her leg causing tears to drip down her face

"Son of a bitch!" She cried

"It's alright if you don't call Connor, I will" He laughed pulling out his phone "Connor, hey buddy its Seth. But before you go running to tell your mommy and daddy, let me tell you something. I have your sister with me and it would be a shame if something happened to her, anyway go to the edge of town and I'll have two of my boys pick you up, if you don't show your sister is gonna die! Can't wait to see you"

"He won't come" Miranda said

"Sure he will, and if he comes with help I'll just kill you, and if he doesn't come with help I'll just kill him"

"If you kill anyone you'll go to jail"

"Why the hell do I care, I've got nothing else to do" He said taping her mouth shut "And now we wait"

"Hello Mrs. Rivers" Emma smiled "Is Miranda home?"

"I was under the impression that she was out with you three" Hanna said looking at the three girls

"She wasn't with any of us, and she isn't home. Where is she?" Tori asked

"I'll be right back!"

Hanna rushed through the house her heartbeat frantic.

"Connor!" She screamed at the top of her lungs "Caleb!"

"Honey what's wrong?" Caleb asked rushing from his bedroom

"No one can find Miranda and Connor doesn't seem to be home either!"

"No, no, no, no you don't think Seth has them do you"

"I don't know" Hanna cried grabbing her cellphone "He's not answering, try Miranda's"

"She's not answering either" He said shoving his phone back into his pocket

"What are we supposed to do?"

"I have an idea" Caleb said rushing towards the door "We have to get Toby maybe he can track Connor's phone, hopefully he brought it with him"

"Let's go" Hanna managed through her tears

"We have company" Someone laughed dragging Connor inside the cabin

"Now the party can begin" Seth said smacking Miranda on the side of her head bringing her back to consciousness "Hey sleeping beauty, you have a visitor"

"Miranda" Connor cried seeing his sister's bloody face "What the hell did you do to her!"

"We just had a chat, she did that to herself all she had to do was corporate and she didn't" Seth explained "Why does it bother you that I hurt her?" He laughed moving his hands towards Miranda resting them on her forehead his hands now covered in her blood as he applied more pressure causing her to cry out in pain

"Stop it! Stop it!" Connor begged trying despratley to break free of the boy's grip

"I don't feel like it" Seth chuckled once again taking out his knife "Remember this is all your fault" A devilish smile crossed his face as he drove the knife deep into her chest

"NO!" Connor screamed tears dripping down his face as he watched the blood pour from his sister's body

He broke free from the tight grip running towards Seth fury plastered on his face. He had his arms around his neck when he felt it, the cool chill filling his body, hearing the faint sound of dripping liquid. It was then that he knew what happened, he couldn't breathe as he tumbled to the floor hitting the ground forcefully his arms and legs stained with not only his blood but the blood of his sister. He tried to regain his breath knowing there was only a few minutes before the darkness consumed him.

"Miranda" He whispered using the last of his breath "I love you, I love you Miranda"


	45. I Love You To

Nothing had changed. Nothing was different from when she lived there when she was younger. The town still held all the terrible memories all the constant reminders of what had happened there, everything about that place was the same. It was almost as if the town was cursed, every person living there bound to suffer from despair, heartbreak and ultimately disappointment. There was nothing she could do to change that, she chose to live here, she chose to return to this horrid place to raise her children and grow closer to her old friends. But why did she stay, if everything continued to fall apart?

The room was quiet, no one daring to speak a single word afraid they might cause more tears to be shed. In the last five hours it had seemed like there had been more crying than ever before. No one could blame them for crying how was someone supposed to deal with this type of situation?

"Can I get you anything?" Spencer asked placing her hand onto Hanna's shoulder

"No" her voice cracked as she spoke her tears staining her face

"It's going to be okay"

"How can you say that? You can't even begin to understand what I'm going through right now! No mother should have to go through this!" Her tears began flowing faster now Caleb running into the room at the sound of his wife's cries

"What did you say to her?" He screamed throwing himself onto the chair beside Hanna "Shhh, I'm here now. I'm here"

"I'm so sorry"

"Please, just leave" Caleb asked holding Hanna tighter

"What are we supposed to do?" Jess asked her head leaning on Noah's shoulder her hand held tightly to Tori's as they awaited news

"I don't know Jessie, all we can do is wait" Noah said his eyes locked on the hospital door

Doctors and nurses were running all throughout the hospital bursting in and out of rooms all wearing the same look of fear. Something was going wrong, something was bad was happening.

"What's happening?" Tori asked tears filling her eyes

"I don't know" Jess cried gripping Tori's hand tighter "I don't know Tor"

It was quiet Hanna and Caleb finally crying all there tears, their eyes glued to the still body of their child. The heart monitor beeped steadily, the IV supplying medicine, while the doctor scribbled everything down on his clipboard.

"So?" Hanna asked "What now?'

"I'm sorry Mrs. Rivers, there's not much more we can do"

"What the hell! You said you wouldn't stop until everything was okay" Caleb screamed rising to his feet

"I know what I said, but Caleb there isn't anything else I can do"

"Wren, you said that you would help!" Hanna whined her eyes sopping wet

"Hanna, I did help without my help you would be looking at a dead kid! Maybe if you actually watched your kid's one of they wouldn't be missing right now, and the other wouldn't be clinging onto life!" Wren shouted

"Get the hell out! Get out and don't you dare show your face in here again!" Caleb said angrily pushing Wren out of the door

"What the freak?" Noah said jumping to his feet running over towards Wren "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, I know you're a friend of the family but I can't release that information"

"Please, you need to tell us" Tori begged

"I'm sorry, but if you want to know you're going to have to ask Mrs. and Mr. Rivers" Wren explained quickly leaving the hall disappearing from their sights

"How are we supposed to do that when they won't let us in the room!" Jess asked

The hospital door opened slowly a small girl shuffling out of the room her eyes red and puffy her hair tied in a messy bun her cell phone held tightly in her hand.

"I don't know" She cried "I don't know" She made her way to the other teens dropping herself into an empty chair "I'll call you when I hear something"

"Are you okay?" Noah asked rubbing her back softly

"How can you even ask me that?" She whined "How can anything be okay!"

"Listen, you just need to breathe okay, everything is going to be just fine" Tori said draping her arms around the tearful girl "You don't need to worry, were all here for you okay"

"Okay" she whispered burying her chin in Tori's shoulder her cries growing louder

"Did you hear anything?" Jess asked her head finding it's way onto Noah's shoulder

"Nothing, they don't know what else they can do"

"There has to be something" Liam said walking up towards the group

"Liam" Jess jumped to her feet running towards his wrapping her arms around him pulling him into her tight embrace "thank you for coming"

"I had to be here, for you, for Emma, for everyone"

"Thank you" she repeated releasing her hold on him slipping her hand into his

"Excuse me" Hanna said quietly peaking her head out from the hospital room "Emma" she called

"Yes" Her voice low her face still dripping with tears

"Can you come in here please?"

"Of course" Emma answered lifting her head from Tori's shoulder as she got to her feet "Is she awake?" She asked entering the quiet room

"Not yet, but we thought you might want to say your goodbyes, just in case" Hanna explained

"My goodbyes? You mean she's gonna…she's gonna" Emma stuttered unable to speak the words

"We don't know what's going to happen but the doctor's told us not to get our hopes up" Caleb admitted wiping a tear from his cheek as he looked down on his baby girl

"Miranda" Emma began her tears falling quickly as she stared at her bruised face "Please tell me that you can hear me, please tell me that this isn't going to be the end, please just tell me that you're not gonna die, Miranda I can't live without you in my life, if you die I won't be able to go on, if you're not in my life I don't know what the hell I'm going to do. Miranda I need you, you're not only my best friend, Miranda you're my sister. Please don't die, I love you Miranda, I love you"

"I…love you to….Connor" She mumbled her eyes slowly flickering opened "Connor" she groaned


	46. This Can't Be It

"Breathe" Jess said her hand resting on Tori's shoulder "Tor, you need to breathe"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do?" Tori whined clutching her chest as her breathing became more rapid

"I don't understand, what's wrong?" Liam asked unsure of what to do "Do you need help?"

"No"

"Yes!" Jess screamed "Noah get a doctor I think she's having a panic attack!"

"Where's Connor?" Miranda groaned looking into the faces of her parents "Where is he? How did I get here?"

"Emma can you wait outside please?" Hanna asked reaching for her daughter's hand "Honey we need to tell you something"

She left the room her eyes filled with tears as she thought of Miranda's reaction to the upcoming news.

"Where did everyone go?" Emma questioned seeing that Noah was the only one waiting outside the door

"Tori was having a panic attack" Noah explained "Jess and Liam got a doctor to look at her, how is everything?"

"Miranda's awake" Emma smiled

"That's great" Noah said jumping to his feet pulling Emma into his embrace "Does she know yet?"

"NO!" Miranda screamed her voice echoing throughout the hospital

"She knows now" Emma said her voice cracking as her tears dripped down her face

"Come with me, you don't need to hear this" Noah said dragging Emma away from Miranda's room

"Are you feeling any better?" the doctor asked

"A little" Tori frowned her hand still clutching her chest "Do you know why this happened? I mean I've never had a panic attack before"

"It could be the result of several different things have you experienced any stressful situations this year"

Tori was silent not wanting to bring up the topic of her mother.

"Excuse me, Ms. Montgomery?"

"No, I don't think so" She lied

"Tori!" Jess said angrily "The car accident"

"Car accident?" The doctor questioned "You were in a car accident?"

"Yes" She stuttered her eyes glaring towards Jess "I was in an accident a month or two ago, and my mother died. But I don't remember much about the accident"

"That may be it" The doctor admitted "Being back in a hospital, it may be bringing back some old memories, old feelings"

"Your saying she had a panic attack just cause she's in a hospital?" Jess asked

"No, I'm saying being in a hospital, it might be causing her to remember"

"Her memories are coming back?"

"It would appear that way, I would advise you to take it easy for the rest of the day maybe try and get out for a while"

"Thank you" Jess smiled watching the doctor walk swiftly out of the room "Why didn't you want to tell him about the accident?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal"

"You're kidding right? Tori it's a pretty freaking big deal!"

"Calm down, please I don't want to talk about this right now" Tori begged hoping the conversation would stop

"Fine whatever Liam can you please go see how Miranda's doing" Jess whined

"Of course"

"Damn!" Noah said as he bumped into Liam

"What the hell why are you in such a rush?"

"Miranda's awake we were looking for Tori, Em wanted to tell her" Noah explained

"She's in room 240" Liam said pointing to a room down the hall "I'll meet you there in a few minutes I just need to use the bathroom"

"Jess are you okay?" Tori asked "You look like you're gonna be sick"

She jumped to her feet bringing her hands to her mouth as she rushed towards the bathroom

"Jess!" Tori said following her friend into the bathroom

"Morning sickness" She whined holding her hair back as she threw up

"Did he say 240?" Noah asked looking down the hallway

"I think so" Emma replied shivering slightly

"Are you cold?" Noah smiled "Here take my jacket"

"What a gentleman"

"240, here we go" Noah said walking into the room "Where are they?" he asked looking around the empty room not knowing they were only a few feet away

"What the hell?" Emma whispered as she pulled Noah's phone from her jacket pocket reading the message that flashed on the screen "What the freak is this?"

"What?"

"Why doesn't Amy need to talk to you about that night?"

"Why are you reading my messages?" Noah said snatching his phone from Emma's hand

"Please tell me it's not what I'm thinking"

Noah was silent his eyes drifting towards the floor, he was too ashamed, to embarrassed to look directly at Emma.

"I'm leaving!"

"No you need to stay and talk about this"

"What the hell is going on?" Tori whispered placing her ear against the bathroom door

"Noah might have cheated on Emma"

"What!"

Emma leaned against the wall crossing her arms over her chest "Okay, let's talk how was she?"

"What?" Noah said shocked at what he had just heard

"Was she good? You said you wanted to talk about it, so let's talk about it"

"She was my first time"

"Your first time!" Emma screamed punching Noah forcefully in the arm repeatedly

"Should we do something?"

"Yea, never cheat on Emma" Jess said hearing as each blow landed

"I was disgusted and I tried to tell you"

"When did this happen?" Emma asked desperate to hold back her tears

"When you went to New York"

"You cheated on me when I was in New York helping my best friend! You bastard!"

"The important thing is she meant nothing to me! Amy meant nothing to me" Noah said trying to reach for Emma's hand

"And yet she was worth jeopardizing our relationship!"

"I didn't know what I was doing, I was drunk" His voice began to crack as he felt the tears form in his eyes

"You think you're gonna get out of this because you were drunk!"

"I'm not trying to get out of it"

"I just don't understand why the hell would you do something like this!"

"Don't you realize none of this would never had happened if you didn't skip our anniversary dinner" Noah screamed

"Okay, say the roles were reversed if you had missed dinner and I slept with someone, would you have been able to forgive me?"

"Yes, of course"

"You would forgive me knowing that someone else had kissed me and had their hands on me.." Emma began taking a seat on the bed

"Stop! Honestly I would have been devastated but I would forgive you because I love you, Emma I love you" Noah said sitting down beside her

"There gonna get through this right?" Tori asked backing away from the door

"They have to, I mean there Emma and Noah for god sakes there Nemma"

"What if they don't?"

"Now you're not even talking to me" Noah said his eyes glued to Emma who sat motionless a blank expression plastered on her face "Look I'm sorry I was out of my mind, I don't cheat!" He yelled throwing his hands in the as he got to his feet "You know what! You know what I'm not the one who bailed on us last time, I'm not the one who broke things off when things got a little hard, now were in a tight spot again what are you gonna do? Are you gonna fight for us or are you gonna bail? Look I did a terrible stupid stupid thing and I'm sorry I'm sorry I wish I could take it back but I can't, and I can't see us throwing something away that we both know is so damn good, Emma I love you so much" Noah said bringing his face closer to Emma their lips only inches apart

"No Noah! You can't just kiss me and make everything better it doesn't work that way, I think you should go" Emma said pointing towards the door

"No"

"You need to go now!" She wiped her face free of tears her hand still pointed firmly at the door waiting until he was out of her sight

"There's got to be a way we can work past this, okay, I can't imagine my life without you, without these hands" He said grabbing hold of her hands intertwining their fingers "and your face" his hands making their way to cup her face "and you heart, your good heart" he cried dropping to his knees wrapping his arms around her waist

"No, I can't you're a totally different person now, I use to think of you as a person who would never hurt me and now I can't stop picturing you with her it doesn't matter what you say or do, it's just changed things forever" She said pushing him off of her

"This can't be it" He cried getting to his feet

"Then how come it is?"

"Miranda, please try and understand were doing all we can to find him" Caleb said sitting beside his daughter

"I just don't get it! How is it that no one knows where he is!"

"They think the gang took his body as some sort of prize" Hanna explained

Miranda's head fell into her knees her cries echoing throughout the hospital room as the thought of her brother being dead filled her mind.

"He can't be gone, no"


	47. You Can't Give Up

"You need to talk to me" Tori begged leaning her head on the foot of the bed "Please, it's been a week just say something"

She stared blankly into Tori's eyes her chest moving slowly each time she took a breath. It had been a week of this, her friends, her family everyone trying to get her to speak. What the hell did she need to talk about? Everyone wanted to know what happened in that cabin, but she couldn't remember, maybe she didn't want to remember. Her mind much like Tori's blocked out the traumatic experience and nothing anyone said helped her to remember.

"Mira, please" Tori pleaded

"I don't want to talk" Miranda said slowly

The corners of her mouth turned up as she heard the angelic voice "I understand what you're going through, I really do, I know how hard it is to lose someone you love"

Miranda laughed finally moving her eyes away from Tori's "You don't even remember your Mom dying, you don't even feel any of the pain cause your on freaking antidepressants! They take your god damn feelings away!"

"You bitch" Tori yelled jumping to her feet "You just can't accept that Connor is dead so you're taking it out on me one of your best friends!"

"Best friends? Really? Tori if you're really one of my best friends tell me who was my first love?"

Tori crossed her arms over her chest moving further away from the bed "I don't know"

"Exactly, get the hell out and don't come back"

"Mira!" Tori said shocked at Miranda's request

"Don't call me that"

"If this is what I get for helping you, don't expect to see me anytime soon!" Tori screamed her hands gripping onto a nearby chair "I can't do this anymore, if your gonna treat me like crap I can't be your friend!" She admitted tossing the chair across the hospital room causing a nurse to come running in

"What the hell is going on in here?"

"Nothing!" Tori whined storming out of the room

"Please just try and understand, I didn't know"

"You didn't know? Jess you told me that it was mine" Liam mumbled through his tears "You said.."

"I know what I said and I'm so, so sorry. Please you have to forgive me" Jess begged

"I don't know if I can do that, I love you but what I'm I supposed to do when the baby comes and you and Emmerson become parents? Who am I gonna be then?"

"No matter what her DNA says you're the father"

"Her?" Liam asked his voice cracking slightly

"Her" Jess repeated pulling a sonogram picture from her pocket "I wanted to tell you before but with everything that happened to Miranda I never found the right time"

"Is she healthy?"

"She's perfect" Jess smiled inching closer to Liam

"I don't know what to say"

"Say you forgive me"

"I don't know if I can" Liam confessed passing the photo back to Jess "You lied to me for three months, three months!" He yelled getting off the couch "Jess I've changed my entire life for you"

"I know! I know, but we can't just give up"

"Give up? I'm not giving up, I'm not even a part of this. She's not my daughter! And you're not my girlfriend!" Liam shouted outstretching his hand "I'd like the ring back please"

"Liam" Jess said tears falling from her eyes "Please don't do this, please"

"Just give me the ring, and stop making this harder than it has to be"

"Liam I'm begging you don't do this"

"Whatever, I'll get it later"

Tissues were spread throughout the room takeout containers laying across the coffee table. The lights were dim, the only sound coming from the faint sniffling of her nose.

"Hi" Emma greeted quietly walking slowly into the living room

"Hello Emma" Hanna said as she sniffled "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I just wanted to stop by to ask if you were okay"

"Thank you for your concern, but I don't think there is anything you can do to help"

"Alright" Emma frowned "I guess I should go"

"Emma what's the real reason you came?"

"I just… Emma stuttered her eyes becoming wet as tears trailed down her face " I just needed to talk to someone"

"What about your parents?"

"My mom is in Georgia visiting Ella, and my dad is at Hollis for a job interview or something" Emma explained

"Come here" Hanna said gesturing Emma towards the couch "Tell me what's on your mind"

"Everything" Emma cried "I don't know how everyone is keeping it together, I haven't stopped crying in what seems like days"

"Don't believe everything you see, your friends may not be as put together as they seem"

"I just don't know what to do! Please just tell me what I can do" Emma begged her head falling onto Hanna's shoulder "Please, I don't know who I can tell"

"What do you need to tell? Do you know something?" Hanna asked

"Yes" Emma said "But I can't tell anyone"

"Tell me, please" Hanna pleaded

"I can't tell you" Emma admitted wiping the tears from her eyes "I can't"

"Is it that bad?"

"It's a secret and I'm not supposed to know"

"Emma if it's a secret that can hurt you or someone else than you need to tell someone, I can tell you from personal experience that keeping a secret like that won't help anyone"

"I know, but I can't do it. I'm sorry" Emma ran from the living room bursting out of the house her face dripping with tears

"I don't understand! How could he have done something like this?" He screamed falling into a nearby chair

"How was I supposed to know that our son would turn into some gang member! What are we going to do?" She asked as she paced nervously across the office

"I don't know all I know is Aria can't find out about this"

"You still haven't told her? It's been 17 years Ezra!"

"Jackie you don't get it! Emma is 16 Aria is gonna think I cheated on her"

"Didn't you?"

"Hell no!" Ezra yelled "We were broken up and I made a stupid mistake one night and it turned into a complete mess a year later when you told me _our_ son which I didn't know we had, had been taken away from you!"

"Whatever! But you know that this is gonna come back to bite you in the ass if you don't tell her!"

"Let me deal with that, but Jackie I swear if you tell anyone about this the checks from my parents, there gonna stop and then your gonna go right back to where you were 17 years ago sitting on your ass because you used all your money on booze!"

"Are you okay?" Amy asked slowly walking towards the swings "I don't usually see anyone else hanging around here"

"I haven't been here since elementary school" Liam said looking around the deserted playground

"I come here time to time, it's a great place to think, to get away"

"I see that"

"So what are you trying to get away from?" Amy questioned

"Why are you so full of questions?" Liam laughed

"Is that pot?"

"Maybe" Liam smiled bringing the object to his mouth "Like you said I needed to get away

"This isn't the way to escape your problems"

"Jess is pregnant with Emmerson's baby"

"Oh my god, Liam" Amy gasped wrapping her arms around Liam's neck "I'm so sorry"

"So am I" He said placing his hand over hers "I'm sorry that I let Jess become the center of my life, I'm sorry that I forgot about you"

"I'm sorry you forgot about me to, I missed you"

"Maybe we should start hanging out more?" Liam proposed "I could use a friend"

"You're talking to the right person as of now I don't have any friends, I mean unless you count my moms, now get rid of the pot and let's get you home"

"Thanks Amy, really thank you"

"Don't mention it" Amy smiled grabbing Liam's hand


	48. I'm Here To Stay

"When were you gonna tell me?" Emma said reaching for the light switch causing the dark living room to fill with light "When?"

"Why are you awake?" Ezra asked stepping further into the house closing the front door behind him

"When were you gonna tell me? Hell when were you gonna tell mom!"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about" Ezra lied dropping his bag onto the floor

"Dad" Emma said tears forming in her eyes "I have a brother!"

The house was dark his parents must have been asleep already, I mean it was almost 1 in the morning.

"Thanks for the ride" Liam whispered tiptoeing towards the backdoor

"No problem anything for a friend"

"You know there was a time I wished we could be more than friends" Liam grinned leaning towards Amy's lips

"And there was a time where I wished that to" Amy admitted placing her hand over Liam's lips "But I don't know how much more backstabbing I can do"

"Backstabbing?"

"At the beginning of the year, I had a ton of friends, everyone thought I was one of the sweetest people in the school like my mom Emily, but now everyone thinks I'm the same jerk Paige was in high school. If I kiss you, if I let myself care about you Jess, Tori, and Miranda they'll all hate me even more"

"Who says they need to know?"

"Liam please stop, we can't do this!" Amy said feeling Liam's warm breath on her face "I can't be the bad guy anymore"

"Maybe we can both be the bad guy"

"Maybe you can take no as an answer" She smiled stepping away from the handsome guy before her

"You don't know me at all" Liam laughed "I can't take no as an answer, I'm gonna win your heart. Trust me"

"Goodnight Liam" Amy giggled turning away from him quickly making her way back towards the car

"_No!" _

_She heard his voice echo throughout the cabin, she heard his footsteps slam down onto the ground as he ran towards her. She felt like she was dead, she felt as if she was minutes maybe even seconds away from stepping into the bright white light that she always heard people talk about. She couldn't open her eyes it was almost as if they were cemented shut, even when she tried to us all her strength they refused to open, forbidding her from seeing the horrific scene that laid before her. _

"_Let's get out of here" Someone said before rushing from the crime scene _

"_Not yet" this was Seth's voice she was sure of it, she could recognize his deep tone anywhere "We need to get her out of here, we need to make sure they don't find this place" _

_She felt someone's hands wrap around her waist pulling her off the chair dragging her slowly against the cold floor. She heard herself let out a quiet groan, she wanted so desperately to call out for help, to run home to get away from the bastards that had in one day ripped her entire family and life apart._

"I could have helped" Miranda whined

"Did you say something honey?" Caleb asked yawning as he woke from his sleep

"I could have helped him, I could have saved Connor" She cried bringing her knees to her chest dropping her head onto her knees feeling the tears drip onto the bed

"What do you mean? There was nothing you could have done"

"I could have fought harder, I could have fought to keep him out of that god damn cabin"

"Cabin? What Cabin?"

"The cabin they locked us in" Miranda said as if it were common knowledge "Isn't that where they found me"

"Miranda the police didn't find you, Amy did"

"Amy!" Miranda said

"She said she found you bleeding, crying and begging for help, she said you were by Wright playground" Caleb explained moving closer to Miranda

"She's lying, I remember the cabin, it had this beautiful fireplace that had a raging fire, I remember because Seth kept threatening to burn me if I didn't call Connor, there was a back room it looked like a storage room Seth spent a lot of time back there I think he was trying to figure out what to do, I was never at that playground, I was at a cabin"

"I'll be right back I just need to make a call"

"Caleb" Toby groaned holding his phone tightly in his hand as he sat up in his bed careful not to wake Spencer "Do you have any idea about what time it is?"

"Amy lied!" Caleb screamed through the phone "Miranda was never at that freaking playground, she was at a cabin"

"A cabin?"

"A cabin" Caleb repeated "Who do we know who has a cabin?"

"Ezra Fitz" Toby and Caleb said together

"Why the hell are you calling me? It's like 2 in the morning!" Emmerson whined rubbing his tired eyes

"I just felt her kick" Jess laughed

"Is that all?"

"Do you even understand what I'm saying? I just felt _our_ baby kick, I thought you would be more excited"

"I promise I'll be more excited at school tomorrow, I'll even shout it through the halls if you want" Emmerson joked

"You can't tell people!"

"Why half the school already knows you're pregnant and the other half suspects it"

"I don't care who knows I care that they'll know you're the father" Jess explained

"So you were okay, if they knew Liam was the father but just because its me.."

"It's not that, it's that if people know I'm pregnant there gonna think the father is Liam and if I suddenly say it's you everyone is gonna think I'm a whore"

"Wouldn't be a lie" Emmerson said under his breath "Anyway can I go back to bed now?"

"Do whatever you want douchebag!"

"Dad" Tori whispered slowly walking into the kitchen "Are you sneaking ice cream again?"

"I can't get anything past you can I?" Mike laughed dropping the spoon from his hand

"You can't but if you share I won't judge you"

"Here you go" Mike smiled passing his daughter a spoon "Why are you awake? Don't you have school tomorrow?"

"I'm not going"

"Victoria we've talked about this you can't skip school to visit Miranda"

"I'm not going to see her, in fact I don't think I'll be seeing her anytime soon" Tori frowned taking a spoonful of chocolate ice cream

"Why is that?"

"I might have thrown a chair in her hospital room" Tori admitted "After calling her a bitch"

"Victoria, why would you do that?"

"I was pissed off at her, she said I didn't understand how it felt to lose someone I loved, she said just because I was on anti-depressants I didn't have any feelings"

"But you know none of that is true, why did you let it get to you?"

"Because deep down I knew some of it was true, I don't cry everyday like Miranda does, I don't cry because the memories from the accident are hazy, I don't cry because the medication does help, it does help me to forget the pain" She dropped her spoon into the tub wiping the ice cream from her lips

"It's not a bad thing honey, it's not bad that you don't cry in fact that's a good thing. You don't need to go through each day crying from the loss of your mother, even though you can't see her with her eyes, you can feel her all around no matter what happens your mom is always with you" Mike said reaching for Tori's hand "And if you ever feel yourself slipping like you did last week, if you ever feel yourself falling off the deep end losing control of your breath from missing your mom to much you can always turn to me, I know I haven't been with you through all the hardships and obstacles in your life but that doesn't matter, I'm here now, and I'm here to stay"


	49. Queen Of Bad Timing

The sunlight peered into the dark bedroom shining light on the items which were scattered across the floor. She had her face buried beneath the blanket knowing that today was the day, knowing that any minute the door would open and her parents would be standing there dressed in their best clothes ready to put their child to rest. As if on cue there was a soft knock on the door.

"Honey?" Hanna's voice trembled as she saw her daughter's room her eyes falling on all the objects on the floor guessing Miranda through them from the shelves during one of her temper tantrums "It's time to go"

"Like I said fifteen minutes ago, I'm not going!" She hugged the blankets tightly against her body

"Miranda, you have to go"

"I don't have to do anything!"

"Please I need you there, please come" Hanna begged holding back her tears

Reluctantly Miranda slipped off of her bed "Give me a few minutes"

She stared into the mirror a short black dress draped across her body her normally blonde hair showing streaks of her natural light brown color. She didn't care, she didn't care that she didn't look perfect hell if it was up to her she would wear pajamas.

"Ready?"

"Yea" She lied fussing with her dress "Do I look fat?"

"Seriously?" Noah whined glaring towards his sister's stomach "You look pregnant"

"Damn it"

"What? You are pregnant"

"But I don't want to look pregnant!"

"Oh sorry"

"Its fine, it's not like anyone will be looking at me anyway"

"Let's go"

"Noah wait!" Jess called "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry about you and Emma"

"So am I"

"Victoria!" Mike yelled running towards her daughter's room "We have to go"

"I'm coming, 2 minutes" She pulled her hair into a quick braid draping it over her left shoulder placing her glasses on her face

"Oh" Mike smiled proudly "You look just like your mother"

"Thanks" Tori said sadly

"Em?" Ezra said quietly sneaking into his daughter's room "Can we talk?"

"I'm still keeping your secret, what else is there to talk about?"

"I know this is hard to understand"

"Do you still love Mom?" Emma interrupted

"What kind of question is that? Of course I still love Mom, she's the love of my life"

"Then why don't you tell her, if she feels the same way she'll understand"

"I want to tell her but it's just too complicated now"

"Why? Cause your son and my brother killed my best friend's brother?" She couldn't hold them back any longer her tears quickly dripping down her face "Don't cry, shhh" Ezra wrapped his arms around Emma begging she wouldn't push him away

"It's okay"

"Are we ready in here?" Aria asked walking into the room "Honey" she joined the hug laying her head in her daughters shoulder "Don't worry, everything is gonna be just fine"

Everyone gathered in the small church all eyes glued to the small casket which sat in the front.

"Its small" Jess whispered

"He was only 14, he was still small" Noah explained sliding into one of the rows

"Hey Tori" Emma sniffled hugging the girl tightly around the waist

"Damn for a shorty your pretty strong" Tori joked hoping to lighten the mood

"I may only be 5'2 but I play lacrosse I'm strong"

"Just wait till I star playing, I bet I'll be twice as strong as you"

"Is that a bet?" Emma grinned

"Really betting at a funeral? Very classy" Miranda said quietly sneaking up behind the girls "Hi"

They didn't speak only pulling her into a group hug which Jess joined seconds later.

"I'm glad you guys are here"

"We wouldn't miss it" Tori grabbed Miranda's hand squeezing it tightly before giving her an encouraging grin

"If you would all take your seat we are ready to begin"

The ceremony was beautiful Hanna and Caleb each talking about their best memories of Connor. She knew it was her turn, she held her talk in her hands ready to approach the podium, but as she stood she felt her legs shake beneath her.

"I'm sorry" She whispered turning to her mother who sat beside her

In a second Miranda darted towards the back of the church running away quickly, never once looking back.

"What the hell" Jess whispered in Tori's ear "What are we supposed to do?"

"Let me handle it" Tori said jumping to her feet slowly heading towards the direction that Miranda disappeared in

"Hi" Emma said shyly into the mic "I'm Emma, Miranda's friend but even though I spent majority of my time with Miranda doesn't mean I don't know Connor. In fact I treated Connor as if he was my brother, because really he was. We fought, we had inside jokes, we treated each other as family. I can remember a few years ago when he was 12 he had his first crush, he came to me and Miranda for advice. This may not seem like a big deal but it meant a lot to me knowing that he trusted me like that. I may not have been related to Connor but I knew him, he was sweet and smart, and caring and generous, he was one of the best people I have ever meet" She walked from the podium passing in front of the coffin placing her hand on it "I love you Connor" she whispered before returning to her seat

"Thank you" Hanna said in between tears

"Miranda" Tori said quietly approaching the girl

"Why are you here?"

"Because I care about you" She walked closer to Miranda "I wanted to make sure you were okay"

"I'm fine"

"Why do you continue to lie to me!"

"I'm not lying"

"There you go again" Tori sat beside Miranda

"How did you know I would be here?"

"Although you don't believe me I know you, I knew you would come here" Tori explained looking around the empty park that for some reason looked familiar

"Do you ever get sick of being right all the time?"

"Do you ever get sick of being wrong all the time?" A strange look crossed her face "Whoa deja-vu"

"Of what?"

"I feel like I've had this conversation before"

"Cause we have, it was months ago I was pissed at Emma and you convinced me to talk to her"

"What happened next?"

"Nothing" Miranda lied not wanting to bring up their kiss

"Liar, I'll remember one of these days"

"Sure you will, I should probably get back" Miranda said getting to her feet

"Let's go" Tori smiled bringing Miranda into her arms kissing her cheek for some reason almost as if her lips had a mind of their own "Everything is gonna get better, I promise"

"Thanks"

"_Miranda, you need to go talk to her" Tri suggested jumping onto the bathroom sink "You need to understand she's been gone and she's missed a lot _

"_You're 15 why the hell are you so freaking smart?" Leaning her head on the wall _

"_It's in my blood" She smiled admiring her reflection in the mirror "So, are you gonna talk to her or what?"_

_ Miranda rolled her eyes as she moved towards Tori. Her hands finding their way to Tori's resting on top of each other's her eyes locked on the chocolate brown ones that sat before her._

"_Do you ever get sick of being right all the time?" Miranda asked her lips moving closer to Tori's_

"_Do you ever get sick of being wrong all the time?" Tori laughed her giggles cutoff by Miranda pushing their lips together _

"Tori are you okay?" Jess asked seeing Tori's face

"I remembered!"

"Remember what?"

"Feelings"

"Feelings?" Jess repeated still confused

Jess followed Tori's eyes over to Miranda "You remember Miranda!"

"I think I do" Tori smiled recalling the memory "I remembered kissing her and now every time I think about her I get butterflies in my stomach"

"Yay! Mori's back!"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me was with Miranda!" Tori asked hitting Jess' arm slightly

"I wanted to but Miranda didn't want me to, she wanted you to get through the car accident without the struggle of trying to remember your girlfriend"

"Well what am I supposed to do now?"

"I don't know you must be like the queen of bad timing, I mean of all times you could have remembered you remember at her brother's funeral"

"Should I tell her?" Tori asked nervously

"Its up to you, but if it was me I would tell her"

Tori smiled slowly moving towards Miranda

"Miranda hi" Someone said pulling Miranda into her arms "How are you?"

"Hey Jordan, I'm alright. Thanks for asking"

Tori watched in horror as Jordan slipped her hand into Miranda's

"Thanks for being here"

"Of course" Jordan smiled tucking a strand of Miranda's hair behind her ear with her free hand

"Damn it" Tori whined walking back to Jess "I wanted so badly to remember and now I just want to forget"


	50. Not Right

Her head rested motionless on the desk, her arms held tightly on the back of her neck. She wanted nothing to do with the world after everything that had happened over the last few months, moving to Rosewood, meeting Miranda, finding out about her mother's dark past, moving to New York to live with a father that at first wanted nothing to do with her. Thinking about everything that happened to not only her but everyone else in this town it sounded as if it were a script from a tv show.

He saw her there, hidden in the empty classroom she looked so sad, alone, she looked like she needed a friend the only question was, could he be a friend to her? Would she let him?

"Hi" he said shyly sitting in the desk beside her

"I don't feel like talking, especially to you!" Tori whined rudely not once lifting her head from its place on the desk

"Just because Emma hates me doesn't mean you have to"

"Actually" Tori began lifting her eyes to meet Noah's "It does, it's like rule one of girl code"

"Another rule is not to date your cousin's best friend but whatever" Noah said angrily getting to his feet only realizing what he said when he got to the door "ummm"

"Its fine, I already know"

"What?" Noah said shocked "You know about Miranda and you're not back together? I'm confused I mean you two are like…"

"I know, Jess said the same thing, were Mori which honestly only makes me think of that tv show but whatever, Jess explains what me and Miranda had as this epic love, a love you only get once in your life. But I don't know"

"What don't you know?" Noah asked returning to his seat beside Tori

"I don't know if I can do that, I don't know if I can be a part of something this big"

"Are you an idiot! I would give anything to be a part of something like that, I would give anything to love someone so much that it hurts when I don't see them, to love someone so much that when I go a day without kissing them I feel weak"

"Noah, how can you want someone like that how can you want someone with that much power over you?"

"Tori" Noah reached for her hand "What the hell is going on in your head, why are you trying to talk yourself out of loving Miranda?"

"Because she's over me, I can tell"

"Like hell she is" Noah laughed jumping to his feet pulling Tori up with him "No come one little girl, were ditching classes today, you need a day off"

"You mean I need to get drunk and forget about my troubles" Tori giggled her hand still gripped tightly to Noah's "Let's go

"Tori!" Ezra called seeing Tori and Noah heading towards the back exit "Where do you think you're going?"

"To get some exercise, isn't that right Noah"

"Sounds about right to me" He laughed pushing opened the door

"Tori!" Ezra yelled louder throwing his hands in the air out of frustration "Emma, can we talk please?"

"Not really in the mood" She whined speeding past her father

"Emma, just give me a second! You can't treat me like this I'm your father"

Emma was outraged by this comment turning rapidly to face Ezra "Like hell you are, until you tell mom your secret you're not my father, you're not my family, your just my old English teacher. Do you understand!"

"Damn Fitz" Amy laughed walking up behind Emma following her to her locker "You're mad, your face is o red it matches your highlights"

"Shut the hell up!"

"Hey, I'm trying to have a conversation"

"Can you just leave me alone!" Emma screamed pushing Amy against the locker "Shut up"

"Wake up sleepy head!" Jordan laughed shaking Miranda's shoulder slowly "It's almost 11"

"So" Miranda groaned pulling the blanket over her head

"So, my mom is gonna be home soon and if she finds out I skipped out on school she'll kill me"

"You missed one day of school in what seven years?"

"Well that's not the only thing, if she comes home and sees a certain someone in my bed….."

"Right, right" Miranda whined sounding hung-over her hands holding her forehead "Your mom doesn't know your gay, I forgot"

"It's not like I haven't tried to tell her, I have there's just never a good time"

"Hey I don't care, it's not like where dating, we've sleep together a couple times and that's it" Miranda said rolling out of the bed grabbing her top of the floor "I'll see you around"

"Miranda, please don't do this"

"Do what? Tell you the truth? You do realize I'm only here because we got drunk last night, and the only reason we got drunk is because my life is so shitty right now that, it's the only way I can escape"

"You're such an asshole! Do you realize that your brother died three months ago! You need to let go of this anger you have! You need to move on and realize there was nothing you could have done to help him! You need to let someone in!" Jordan began moving closer to Miranda "Just let me in"

"And what if I don't want to let you in? What if I don't want to let anyone in? What if I like being by myself. Anyway like I said I'll see you around!"

"Miranda!" Jordan yelled as Miranda ran down the stairs slamming the door forcefully behind her

"Everything looks good"

"Are you sure? I mean he's okay?"

"It's just a broken wrists, luckily there's no nerve damage so everything should heal properly" The doctor explained looking quickly at the x-ray "Can you tell me how this happened again?"

"Liam?" Spencer said turning to face her son "Liam" she repeated

"What?"

"Can you tell the doctor how your broke your wrist"

"I fell off my skateboard" He lied

"Is that how you got that black eye?"

"Yeah, sure"

"Spencer would you mind giving me and Liam a moment"

"Of course"

"Liam who did you get in a fight with?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"I know about your anger management problems, I know how easily you get angry, so who made you mad, who did you fight?"

"Emmerson Daily, I got in a fight with someone named Emmerson"

"And why is that?"

"He ruined my life, he took my girlfriend, my kid, he took everything good from me"

"How did he manage to take those things from you?"

"My girlfriend, my ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his kid"

"Do you love her?"

"I'll always love her, she's my soulmate"

"If you truly believe she's your soulmate, if you love her why did you let her go? If you love her go get her"

"How can you advise me to do that? Don't you know she was one of my triggers?"

"Does it matter? You only get one soulmate you can't let her slip from your fingers Liam"

"Liam? Where are you going?" Spencer yelled watching as Liam ran from the hospital room "Liam where the hell are you going?"

"I'm going to fix my life!"

He ran so fast he thought his legs would break he didn't know where he was running to or if she would even be there all he knew was he needed to find her as fast as he could.

"Jess!" He screamed standing below her bedroom window "Jess!"

"Liam?" Jess said confused seeing Liam lingering by the bushes "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you! Please"

"I'll be right down"

She didn't know why he was here, she didn't even know if she wanted to talk to him, what she did know is she was still pissed at him for beating the crap out of Emmerson.

"What!" She whined opening the front door leaning comfortably on the frame "What do you…" she was cut off by his soft lips pressing against hers his arms making their way around her body holding her tightly in his embrace

"I still love you"

"Liam" She groaned her eyes squinting in pain "Liam something's not right"

"What do you mean? Is it the baby?"

"I think I'm having a contraction"

"You can't be, you can't be your only 6 months pregnant" Liam said panicked

"Get me to the hospital now!" She cried tears dripping down her face "Please Liam, something isn't right"


	51. Just Like Old Times

She sat in the same seat, she sat the same way, her hair styled the same, looking at her you'd swear you had gone back in time, looking at her you'd think it was Aria Montgomery.

"Are you okay down there?" His voice was soft his hazel eyes shining throughout the pub

"Fine, I'm just tired"

"Yea? What have you been doing that's making you so tired?"

"The usual, school, family drama, all that jazz"

He let out a small laugh as he moved closer to her "Don't get me started on family drama as for school I just graduated"

"Oh did you go to Hollis?"

"Yea, I'm actually starting my first teaching job tomorrow"

"What are you teaching?"

"Art?"

"Well that explains the paint smeared on your cheek" Emma laughed tracing over the paint with her finger

"Your one to talk it looks like you got clay all over your hands" he took his hand in hers

"Looks like we've got that in common" Emma said noticing some of the dried clay transfer to his hands

"Looks like it"

She wasn't entirely sure how it happened but they ended up in the bathroom, feeling as he wrapped his arms around her waist as she jumped onto the counter her fingers running through his dark black hair, their lips locked firmly on each other's not paying attention to the outside world which was already banging on the door ready to get in

"I think I should go" Emma said sadly in between kisses "I have an early class tomorrow"

"I think you should stay"

She reached into his back pocket pulling out his phone "Give me a call sometime" she grinned giving the phone back to him

"Emma, that's a great name"

"It is isn't it" She laughed jumping from the counter "Do I get to hear yours?" She asked her hand wrapped around the door knob

"Ty Perez" He said a Spanish accent rolling off his tongue as he said his last name

"I'll see you around Ty"

"Yea, I'll see you Emma" He glanced at the new contact on his phone ready for the new journey that was Emma

"Do you need anything else?" Liam asked tucking a piece of hair behind her ear "Anything at all"

"I want my mom" Jess groaned feeling the pain as another contraction came

"She's coming she's just talking to the doctor"

"Do they know what's wrong? Is she gonna be okay?"

"Jess don't worry _our_ baby girl is gonna be just fine"

"Our?"

"Hell yea, I don't give a damn that she's not related to me, I don't care all I know is I love you, I love you more than anything in the entire world and I'm gonna love this little girl more if that's even possible" He climbed into the bed pulling her close to his body "I love you, I love you" he repeated whispering in her ear

"I love you"

"Jessica Kahn?" A doctor said entering the room Alison not far behind "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone is trying to kill me! What the hell is going on?"

"It seems like you're in labor"

"That's not possible, I'm only 6 months pregnant I can't give birth yet" Jess said her eyes filling with tears

"I know this is scary, but we'll get through this everything is going to be just fine"

"But if she gives birth wont the baby be premature, what if something goes wrong how can we be sure that.."

"Emmerson I presume" The doctor asked not waiting for an answer "The survival rate for babies born at 6 months I admit is low but 8 out of 10 babies survive and everyone at this hospital will do all they can to make sure your baby is one of those 8"

"Shhh….it's okay" Liam said calmly hoping to silence Jess' cries "She's gonna be just fine"

"I'm scared" She admitted crying into Liam's shoulder "I don't want anything to happen to Katie"

"Katie" Liam laughed "When did we decide on Katie?"

"We didn't I did, why you don't like it?"

"It's too common" Liam smiled "How about Scarlett?"

"No"

"Mrs. Kahn" the doctor whispered pulling Alison from the room "I don't want Jessica to have false hope, this is going to be a hard fight, this may be the hardest thing she will ever go through not only will she be faced with the pain of labor, but she's going to be faced with several heartbreaking decisions concerning her daughter"

"I understand, but I don't think it will help if she thinks that there is no hope"

"How about Meghan?" Liam suggested

"No, Lucy?"

"Veto" Liam laughed "I have one I think you might like"

"I'll be the judge of that" Jess said managing a small grin

"Amara"

"Amara, Amara Miranda Cavanagh"

"Sounds perfect to me" Liam said hugging Jess as she laid her head on his shoulder

"Me to"

"Damn, how much did we drink?" Tori groaned a small chuckle escaping her mouth

"Too much" Noah said struggling to get to his feet "But don't you feel better?"

"No, I feel sick"

"Well join the club, crap! I have like twenty missed calls from my mom"

"She's gonna kill you"

"You got that right" Noah laughed "Anyway" he yawned "We'll be late for school if we don't leave now"

"When did you become so studios?"

"I haven't I just don't want to corrupt you"

"You don't want to corrupt me and yet yesterday we skipped school to get drunk" Tori said grabbing her shoes "So what does this make us? Are we friends or something?"

"If you want to be, we can be those friends that everyone wants, and plus I've always wanted a lesbian friend"

"Shut the hell up, you douchebag!" Tori laughed nudging Noah in his ribs "Let's go"

"Miranda, hey" Emma said surprised to see Miranda finally back in class "Where have you been?"

"Dealing with stuff"

"Oh, well how are you now?"

"I'm still dealing with stuff, but I've already missed too much school, I had to come back sooner or later"

"Take your seats" Someone called out as the final bell rang Emma watched as Tori slipped inside unnoticed by the teacher "I'm your new art teacher Mr. Perez"

"Crap" Emma muttered to herself after hearing the familiar accent

"Holy Shit!" She heard him say his eyes locked on hers

"Son of a bitch!" Miranda yelled jumping up grabbing Emma's hand "Jess is in labor!"


	52. How Is She?

"Breathe, breathe" Liam said rubbing Jess's back "How close are the contractions?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know!" Jess screamed smacking Liam's head "God damn it! This is freaking terrible"

"Looks like it" Miranda laughed from her position near the doorway "I mean seriously Jess you look like a piece of shit"

"Your one to talk bitch, get to lazy to dye your hair? You looked better as a blonde" Jess shot back looking at Miranda's brown hair which was pulled back in a messy bun

"Shut up, dork" She laughed stepping further into the room "Liam would you mind pulling a chair over?"

"Sure"

"Thanks" Miranda grinned climbing into the hospital bed laying her head on Jess' shoulder

"Oh I see you want me to sit here" Liam said pointing to the chair he had just pulled next to the bed

"Yeah everyone knows Jess and I are endgame"

"Obviously" Liam chuckled walking towards the door "I'll leave you two alone"

"So?" Jess began slowly as Liam left the room "When did you rejoin society?"

"Some idiot told me that I needed to move on, so this is me moving on"

"Who told you that? Your lover?" Jess joked

"How did you know about her?"

"Wait, you seriously have a lover? I was joking"

"Oh, so was I" Miranda said

"You are not, oh my god Miranda you're sleeping with someone! Who is it? Is it someone I know?"

"Is sex really what you want to be talking about right now? I mean you are in labor"

"I want to know you've been M.I.A for the past three months, I haven't seen you in forever, tell me"

"You might know her"

"Oh really?" Jess said a huge smile plastered on her face "She told you didn't she? She told you she remembered! Thank god I really missed you and Tori together, you guys are so cute"

"Tori?" Miranda said confused lifting her head from Jess' shoulder "What do you mean Tori? She remembered me?"

"You didn't know?"

"When did this happen?" Miranda said outraged "Jess! When?"

"Damn contraction" Jess lied screaming loudly making sure Liam would hear "We'll talk later"

"Jess!" Miranda whined as Liam pushed past her

"Miranda I think you should leave now, Emma's waiting in the hallway for you"

Miranda stormed from the room slamming the door forcefully behind her throwing herself in a chair beside Emma.

"What's wrong with you?" Miranda groaned crossing her arms over her chest

"Nothing, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing!"

Emma glanced over toward Miranda "I'm lying"

"So am I" Miranda admitted

"Were teenagers why are our lives so freaking complicated?" Emma asked dropping her head in to her hands "I don't think I can handle anymore drama"

"You and me both Em" Miranda said wrapping her arms around Emma's neck bringing her into a hug "I missed you Emmy, I still miss you"

"I missed you to" Emma confessed wiping a tear from her eye "So what were you lying about?"

"Tori drama"

"Again?" Emma almost laughed releasing Miranda from her arms "I thought you were over her?"

"I can say that until I'm blue in the face, but the truth is I love Tori, maybe I always will"

"But she doesn't remember, so.." Emma said slowly

"That's the problem she does remember, at least that's what she told Jess"

"She told Jess and not me! That little bitch, how could she not have told me were living in the same house!"

"What?" Miranda said confused

"Oh I keep forgetting you've been out of the loop, Mike went to France for work or something so Tori's been staying at my house"

"Damn how can so much change in three months?"

"I don't know, I've been asking myself the same question"

"Speaking of questions I have one for you, what's going on with you and Mr. Perez?"

"What are you talking about?" Emma said nervously

"I saw the way he reacted when he saw you and I saw the way you reacted, you obviously knew him"

Emma raised her hand "Swear on the mood ring"

"Really? We haven't sworn on the mood ring in like five years!"

"This is serious Miranda promise me"

"Fine" Miranda said rolling her eyes reaching for her necklace which held her own mood ring "Tell me"

"Say it"

"You're kidding, I don't even remember it" Miranda lied

"Whatever, I think I'm gonna get something to eat"

"I swear on the mood ring which symbolizes our friendship, I swear to keep this secret, I swear to never tell a living soul what I'm about to hear, I swear to remain quiet about what I'm about to hear, I swear if I am to betray this secret I shall be publicly shamed if my name isn't Miranda Rivers"

"Sounds good to me" Emma smiled memories of their old friendship returning to her "So the other day I meet someone in the pub near Hollis we got to talking and I found out we had a lot in common, some things lead to another and we ended up making out in the bathroom"

"Who are you?" Miranda giggled "But what does this have to do with Mr. Perez, oh crap did he walk in on you?"

"No" Emma said slowly "He was the one I was making out with"

"It's time!" Liam screamed bolting from the room "It's time!"

"Time!" Emma and Miranda said together

"Time" Liam repeated "The baby is gonna be here soon, can someone call Noah, he's still not here!"

"I'll call him" Emma volunteered desperate to get away from Miranda afraid of the dozens of questions that she was sure she had "Noah?"

"Emma hi, listen I'm glad you called I wanted to talk"

"Noah who's on the phone?"

"Who's that?" Emma asked hearing the voice in the background

"No one" Noah lied placing his hand over Tori's mouth "So why did you call?"

"Get your ass down to the hospital your sister's about to give birth" Emma said angrily quickly hanging up the phone

She laid down on the table her head covered in an unattractive cap holding her blonde hair inside, she felt her hand tighten around Liam's as she heard the doctor's voice say that it was time. She never imagined something like this happening, she didn't think she would have to have a C-section. Her heartbeat was rapid as it began.

"She's out" Liam said his face holding a small smile

"Why don't I hear her? She's supposed to be crying! Babies cry when there born! Liam please tell me she's okay"

"Jess I don't know" Liam admitted tears rolling off his cheeks "I don't know"


	53. Down Hill

"Can you slow down!" Tori yelled gripping the arm rests tightly as Noah zipped through traffic

"No, I can't I just heard my sister's in labor I need to be there, I need to get there before it's too late"

"We'll get there, but I would prefer if we got there in one piece!"

"This is what my mom was calling me about! Why didn't I answer!"

"Cause you were drunk" Tori said under her breath as she leaned her head against the cool window

"I should have answered the phone, if I answered the phone I would have been there already"

The room was quiet, Jess passed out in her hospital bed, Liam pacing violently outside the door his phone held close to his ear, Miranda sitting passed out her head resting on her hand while Emma sat on her lap the two sharing the last remaining chair, Alison holding her head in her hands while, Noel's face hid behind his cell phone screen. No one spoke, they didn't know what to say. What do you say when something like this happens? What are you supposed to do? How are you supposed to act?

The door swung opened as Noah and Tori ran inside, Tori tripping over herself and crashing to the floor causing all eyes to dart towards her.

"Sorry" She whispered picking up her glasses sliding them back onto her face

"Mom, Dad?" Noah said quietly sensing the tension in the room "What's going on? Did I miss it?"

"Noah come with us" Noel ordered guiding Noah and Alison outside the hospital room "We need to talk"

"Hi" Tori greeted shyly "How's it going?"

"It's alright" Emma repeated shifting anxiously on Miranda's lap careful not to wake her "She hasn't really been sleeping well these last months I guess it caught up with her"

"Oh, how's Jess?" Tori asked desperate to keep the awkward silence to a minimal

"How do I look?" She groaned her eyes flickering opened

"Hey babe, how are you feeling?"

"Like crap" Jess admitted wiping a tear from her face

"Can I join you?" Tori asked walking over towards the bed

"Please"

Tori crawled next to Jess burying her head into Jess' shoulder intertwining their hands. She knew something was wrong, she knew something had happened to Jess' daughter, but she didn't know what she could do to help, all she could do was lie next to her and hope that everything would turn out alright.

"Thanks" Jess whispered holding back her tears

Out of all the people that were with her during this hard time, Tori was the only one who knew how to make her feel better. She didn't try and talk about what had happened, she didn't try and play therapist and get her to confess her feelings on labor, she just laid there her head buried in her shoulder waiting for the moment when she was ready to talk.

"What are you talking about? Is she okay?" Noah asked

"She's okay for now, she's in the NICU" Alison explained

"She'll survive right?"

"The doctors are going to do everything that they can to save Amara"

"Can I see her?"

"Not yet, but as soon as the doctors give us the green light. We'll go visit her" Noel promised "But for now we need you to go in there and reassure your sister, show her that she's not alone" Noel pulled Noah close to him "And get yourself cleaned up, you reek of alcohol"

With that Noah bolted back towards the room leaving his parents alone in the waiting room.

"I think I'm gonna head back to Jason's for a few hours, you know get some sleep" Alison said taking a few steps away from Noel

"When are we going to stop this?" He asked reaching for her hand

"Stop, what?"

"Walking on eggshells around each other, pretending that we don't even know each other. I miss you Ali, I want you back"

"I know" Ali said slowly "But, Noel I've told you this a hundred times we can't be together if I'm in love with someone else"

"But she'll never love you back! She'll never leave Paige and you know that, deep down you know that you'll never have Emily and yet you keep holding on to the hope that one day you'll be together"

"Noel let go of my arm, you're hurting me!" Ali yelled pulling her arm from Noel's tight grip "I can't chose who I love but I can sure as hell chose whether or not I'm going to fight for them!"

"Amy Maria Fields-McCullers please stand"

Amy rolled her eyes quickly as she rose to her feet.

"Ms. Fields-McCullers you are found guilty of recruiting members for a gang, you will be sentenced to twelve months in juvenile detention"

"Amy" Paige said shaking her daughter gently causing her to jerk awake

"No!" She screamed her heartbeat racing

"Shh….. you were screaming, baby it was just a dream"

"It's not just a dream" Amy said breathlessly "It's my reality, I could be sentenced to a year in juvie tomorrow"

"Everything is going to be just fine, you're not gonna end up in juvie. I promise you"

"Is Mom coming?"

"Why wouldn't she?" Paige asked sitting on the end of her daughter's bed

"I know she has work, and she hates to cancel on her patients"

"She won't have to cancel on her patients, she's not working tomorrow. She'll be right there next to me, and we'll both be with you no matter what the outcome"

"I'm scared" Amy said tears dripping from her eyes "I don't want to go to juvie, I was just trying to help my brother, I didn't convince anyone to join a gang. It's not my fault that Connor's dead!" Amy whined her tears now overpowering her

"Oh baby" Paige pulled her daughters into her arms

"I don't know. I don't know! I..I..I'm telling you everything I know which is basically nothing!" Liam stuttered attempting to explain the current situation

"Liam, how can you not know what's going on! She's your daughter" Toby said angrily

'She's your daughter' those simple words repeated over and over again in his mind. His parents still didn't know, Jess' parents didn't know. In fact no one knew that he wasn't the father, no one knew that Emmerson was Amara's biological father.

"Liam!" Toby screamed into the phone pulling Liam from his thoughts

"Dad, I don't know anything, but once I know more I promise I'll call you, and then I'll call mom"

She waited on the steps for the door to open, the door that she had walked through thousands maybe millions of times throughout her childhood, a door which held so many memories of her past, of her mother, her father, her brother.

"Why didn't you just walk in?" Jason asked gesturing Ali inside

"Cause I can't just walk inside your house that's like an invasion of privacy"

"It's your house to Ali, how many times do I need to tell you that?"

"Aunt Ali!" the young girl grin running towards Ali her arms opened

"Hey Gina, long time no see, its late shouldn't you be in bed?"

"I'm old enough to stay up all night" She laughed

"No, you're not you idiot. Damn little kids are so freaking stupid"

"Avery!" Jason yelled "Apologize"

"No thanks"

"Avery! Don't make me ask again!"

"What are you gonna do? Your gonna call Mom and tell her to take me back? I would just be heartbroken if you did that"

"Please don't do this" Jason begged "Why do you have to keep lashing out? You're acting like a child your twenty years old stop acting like a spoiled brat"

"Screw you!" He yelled rushing towards the door plugging his headphones into his ears

"Avery!"

"Ms. Kahn" the doctor said quietly not wanting to wake the others in the room

"Yes?" Jess yawned sleepily

"She's in the clear, she's gonna make it through the night"

"She is" Jess said excitedly sitting up in her bed causing Tori to slide onto the floor

"Damn it" Tori whined "Why am I always falling?"

"She's okay"

"Pipe down" Miranda groaned bringing her hands to her ears blocking out the sounds of their voices "It's like 12, I want to sleep"

"Miranda, Mara's gonna be okay" Jess smiled

"Emma! Emma!" Tori yelled shaking Emma's shoulder "Amara's gonna make it through the night"

"She's okay?"

"For now she's okay" Jess admitted happily "Liam!" She screamed as he entered the room

"Geez, if you want a soda to I'll get you one"

"Amara's okay, she's gonna be okay tonight"

The soda can slipped from his fingers crashing to the ground spraying the room with diet coke, sprinkling Noah's face with the sticky substance.

"What the hell?"

"She's okay!" Jess grinned

"Good cause, I don't feel so well" Noah admitted his knees buckling beneath his weight causing him to tumble to the ground

"Noah!" Tori said nervously running to his side "What's wrong with him? What's happening?"

"He's having a seizure!" The doctor admitted as he called for help


	54. What She Doesn't Know

**Question (answer in reviews): Who are your favorite teen couples from this story? **

"Hello?" Ali groaned into the phone "I'm on my way"

The early sun rose in the sky as the rain poured from the clouds above creating puddles throughout the quiet town. Her hands held the wheel so tightly her fingers turned white, she was scared out of her mind, she wasn't ready for this. She wasn't ready to hear the final decision. She saw her there waiting outside the Grille, her hair laying over her shoulders as it usually did, rain drops dripping off of her face.

"Hi" Ali greeted quietly giving a small smile

"You bitch!" Emily whined pressing her lips against Ali's wrapping her arms around the shorter girl's waist

Feeling her lips against her own reminded of every reason she loved her, she loved her not just because of her incredible looks but she loved her for her heart, her kind, caring spirit, her mind, she loved everything about her. From the moment she met her she knew she loved her. She knew one day she would be hers.

"Why do you have to do this!" Emily screamed pushing Alison away from her "Why do you have this hold on me?"

"I don't understand?" Ali admitted wiping the raindrops from her eyes

"I married Paige because I was head over heels in love with her, I loved her with every bone in my body, I loved her so much I couldn't describe it. Why do you have to ruin that!"

"I didn't try to ruin it, I promise. I'm sorry you feel that way"

"No you're not! Ali you're not sorry! You don't need to be sorry! I'm the one who should be apologizing"

"Why?" Ali asked lost in the conversation

"Because I've been lying to myself, Paige and you for almost 20 years. I've lied every time I denied I still had feelings for you, I've lied every time I said I wasn't in love with you! Ali I love you, I've always loved you!"

"I love you to" Ali smiled throwing herself into Emily's arms wrapping her hands around her neck feeling as Emily picked her off the ground hugging her tightly around the waist

"Damn it!"

Paige turned the keys in the ignition starting the car quickly driving away from the upsetting scene that had unfolded in front of her.

"How is he?" Emma asked nervously wringing her hands together waiting desperately for an answer

"He's perfectly fine, it seems like Noah has alcohol poisoning" He said firmly darting his eyes towards Noel "Were you aware that your underage son was drinking?"

"No" Noel lied avoiding the doctor's eyes "How long till he can be released?"

"I want to keep him until the afternoon just for observation" The doctor admitted strutting from Noah's hospital room

"Did they say what was wrong with him?"

"Alcohol poisoning"

"He's such an idiot" Jess whined laying down on her bed her eye lids feeling heavy

"Why is that?" Tori asked returning to her place by Jess' side

"He knows he shouldn't be drinking and yet he still does it!"

"Yeah, sorry about that"

"Why are you sorry? Damn it Tori were you with him?"

"Maybe"

"Then you're a bigger idiot than he is!" Jess said pushing her arm "You can't hang out with Noah when you're living with Emma, do you really want to be the cause of world war 3?"

"It's not that big of deal, I mean didn't Miranda hook up with Emmerson?"

"How the hell do you know that?" Jess asked puzzled knowing that Tori shouldn't have known that

"Ummm…" Tori stuttered sliding off the be scared that Jess would hit her again "I remembered a lot more than just Miranda"

"Like what?

"Everything"

"Everything?" Jess repeated "When did this happen?"

"I went to see a therapist a few weeks after the funeral, she helped me to remember she said I was suppressing some of my memories because of the trauma of losing my mom"

"And you waited till now to tell me? I thought we were friends?"

"We are, but it's different now, I remembered everything but it feels like I didn't live it, more like I watched it in a movie or read it from a book"

"What did you read from a book?" Miranda asked walking into the room taking a sip from her soda "Anything interesting?"

"No, just how labor is painful"

"Isn't that pretty common information?"

"I guess" Tori said "I need to not be here right now"

"That was weird" Miranda observed watching her hurry from the room

"That's Tori. Speaking of which…"

"No, Jess I haven't talked to her and I don't think I will"

"Why?" Jess whined tapping the empty space next to her gesturing Miranda to join her "You love her"

"I do, but it's different now, we've both been through so much, we both lost…" she paused taking a deep breath still not ready to speak of Connor "so much, us together would be like giving a gun to a murderer. Were destructive"

"You don't know until you try, and you should try"

"Thanks Jess, should I tip you for this therapy session?" Miranda joked

"If you feel the need to, I could always use a few extra bucks"

"You could but I hope you know I'm not actually going to pay you"

"Whatever" Jess laughed "But really Miranda, you should try I just want to see you happy, I just want to see you smile, that's all I want. I love you girl, your one of the best friends I've ever had"

"You don't need to say that"

"It's true, I don't know what I would have done without you this past year. You're not even a friend anymore, you're like a sister"

"I love you to" Miranda stuttered as Jess hugged her tightly "I really should go though, it's almost 6 and I can't miss anymore school"

"I'll call you later?"

"Yea"

She rushed from the room her heart beating rapidly as she crashed into the figure who was about to enter.

"Liam"

"Miranda"

They exchanged awkward glances followed by awkward silence only broken once Liam found his words.

"She doesn't know, right"

"No" Miranda answered quickly "And she can never know! Agreed?"

"Agreed"


	55. Try and Understand

She walked slowly towards the mirror her eyes scanning her reflection. This was her old self, this was her without that baby bump. Was she ready to return to school? Was she ready to face her classmates again? Was she ready to open herself up to the judgment and humiliation she was bound to face when she returned.

"Jessie?" Noah said quietly walking into his sister's bedroom "Are you ready?"

"Almost" Jess whispered "I just have to find my shoes"

"There right there" Noah pointed out "Are you sure you're not just stalling?"

"Maybe I am, what's it to you"

"You don't need to attack me Jess, I'm here for you" Noah said walking towards his sister placing his arm around her "If anyone says something about you, tell me I'll beat the crap out of them"

"Thanks" Jess grinned "You're the best baby brother a girl could ask for"

"I know" Noah laughed grabbing her bag off her bed "Let's go, we can't be late"

"You're kidding me!" Miranda yelled into her phone "Is this a joke?"

"Is what a joke?" Tori asked walking up behind Miranda

"Shhh!" Miranda warned taking a step away from her "Damn it!" She whined stuffing her phone back into her pocket

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing" Miranda yelled marching over towards her locker

"Why are you freaking out?"

"I'm not. And besides why do you care?"

"Damn you!" Tori groaned getting onto her tiptoes wrapping her arms around Miranda's neck pressing her lips firmly against the taller girls "Calm the hell down! Okay!"

With that Tori sped away never once looking back.

"Damn!" Emma giggled leaning herself against her locker as Miranda traced her fingers over her lips "What was that?"

"Unexpected" Miranda said turning to open her locker "Should I go talk to her?"

"Probably"

"Hey guys" Jess greeted walking to the girls "What's up?"

"I have to go" Miranda said quickly slamming her locker closed

"What's going on with her?"

"Tori just kissed her" Emma grinned grabbing a textbook from her locker

"What!"

"You heard right. Miranda was yelling at someone on the phone, next thing you know Tori kissed her"

"Who was she yelling at?"

"I don't know, I overheard her as I was walking to my locker. Why does it matter?" Emma asked closing her locker sliding her textbook into her messenger bag

"I guess it doesn't, I just don't see Miranda as someone who would fight over the phone"

"I guess not, anyway we should get to class or we'll be late" Emma observed looking at her watch

"Your first project will be an independent piece, create something that comes from your heart, something that means a lot to you, something that tells a story" Ty explained pointing to various sculptures around the room "Yes, _Emma_" his voice stuttered as he said her name

"We can do whatever we want?"

"Whatever or whoever inspires you" His eyes scanned her body a small smile crossing his face as he recognized the shirt she was wearing from when they met "I can show you some past designs students did if you'd like"

"Sure" Emma said getting to her feet shuffling over towards his desk where she watched him type a few sentences

"_I know we haven't talked since that awkward first day, but we should. I want to talk to you, I need to talk to you, meet me in the parking lot after school. I can give you a lift home after we talk" _He finished typing and glanced up into her gorgeous green eyes "Do you understand?"

"Yes, thank you Mr. Perez" Emma said giving him a quick grin before returning to her seat

"Excuse me!" Miranda shouted throwing her hand into the air as she heard her ringing phone "May I use the bathroom?"

"Fill out a pass"

She scribbled the pass quickly running from the room grabbing her phone from her pocket.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Rivers?"

"Yes, did you rerun the test?" Miranda asked hoping for a better answer

"We did, and I'm sorry but we came up with the same answer. Whether or not you want to accept it you have chlamydia"

"What does this mean? What do I have to do?"

"Luckily chlamydia is a common STD in teens and is easily treated with the right medication, but I have to inform you, it would be best if you told your sexual partner or partners of your diagnosis so they can be treated as well"

"It just keeps getting better and better!"

"Tori! Over here" Jess called waving her hand in the air signaling Tori over to their usual table as if she had forgotten where they always sat

"What's got you so energetic?" Tori laughed sliding her tray onto the table

"I heard you kissed a certain someone today! Spill!" She demanded leaning her head on her hands her elbows resting comfortably on the table

"So I kissed Miranda, big deal"

"It is a big deal! Mori forever!"

"You're such a weirdo" Tori giggled taking a forkful of her mashed potatoes

"But you love me anyway"

"But I love you anyway" Tori repeated watching as Miranda walked slowly over to the table choosing the chair that was furthest away from both her and Jess "Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much" Miranda lied her fingers playing mindlessly with her phone "Excuse me for a second" She said suddenly jumping up running across the lunch room "Liam we need to talk"

"About?"

"That thing were not supposed to talk about" Miranda whispered pulling him out into the hallway

"I thought we agreed not to talk about it"

"This is kind of important"

"What?" Liam whined longing to return to the lunchroom to be with his girl

"I have chlamydia, and I had it when we slept together which means…."

"I have it to" Liam finished angrily "I guess I should call the doctor"

"I'm really sorry"

"So am I" Liam frowned pulling his phone from his pocket "Damn voicemail" he whined as he spoke quietly into the phone

"Where have you been?" Jess asked as Liam returned to the table Miranda not far behind him

"I was getting lunch, the line was long" Liam lied passing Jess some of his food

"Is there any ketchup?"

"I can get you some" Liam grinned kissing her gently on the cheek as he rose to his feet

"Thanks"

"Whose phone is that?" Emma asked hearing the faint sound of a ringtone

"I think its Liam's" Tori observed seeing his phone flashing in his bag "Should someone answer it?"

"I'll get it" Jess said reaching for his phone "Oh it's the doctor!"

"You don't really need to answer that do you?" Miranda asked worried knowing no good could come from this

"It might be about Amara. Hello?"

"Is this Liam Cavanagh's phone?"

"Yes, what can I do for you?"

"I'm answering a voicemail Mr. Cavanagh left for me a few minutes ago concerning that fact that he thinks he may have chlamydia"

"Excuse me?"

"Chlamydia it's a type of STD"

"I'm aware of what it is!" Jess said angrily dropping the phone forcefully onto the table

"They were out of ketchup, but I got you some mayonnaise. Is that okay?"

"What the hell Liam!" Jess screamed getting to her feet kneeing Liam in the crotch

"Damn it" He whined falling to his knees "What was that for?"

"Who is she?"

"What?"

"Who the hell are you screwing? Who do you think gave you chlamydia!?"Jess yelled causing all eyes to focus on the scene which was unfolding

"I can explain" He pleaded slowly getting to his feet wincing in pain as he did "It was a mistake"

"Who? Liam! I didn't ask what you thought about it I asked who you slept with"

Liam's eyes moved towards Miranda, seeing as she shook her head no her own eyes filling with tears "Just some girl"

"I can't believe you!" Jess screamed punching him in his face causing him to fall to the ground as she lifted her leg to kick him again only to be stopped by Emma and Tori who pulled her away from him "I can't believe you!" she repeated as Liam stumbled to his feet holding his still broken wrist in pain "Get the hell away from me! I never want to speak to you again!"

"Jess please" He begged holding back his tears "Please try and understand"

"All I understand is that when I was pregnant and doing nothing but thinking about you! You were out screwing girls and getting yourself full of STD's!"

Miranda sat still her eyes never moving from Liam's knowing that he shouldn't be taking all of the blame but afraid to get involved. Afraid of losing her friendship with not only Jess, but Tori, Emma, and Noah all of them becoming very close over the past few months. She was afraid if she spoke up now it would only make things worse, maybe it was the right decision to stay quiet but then again maybe it was the wrong decision.

**Question (answer in reviews): How did you feel about Jess brining her badass behavior back? Did you miss badass Jess? **


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